RWBY: Revenant
by Endbeats
Summary: Liu would like nothing more than to be a good student at Beacon, but his awful fighting skills and horrible semblance prevent him from attaining that dream. However, with his team of rag-tag outcasts, he learns where he belongs. But, happy endings aren't in every story. Connected to Liu by time, Soul searches for the killers of his friends, guided by a living voice in his head.
1. Chapter 1: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 1: After - Companions

Funny how facing despair didn't create fear. It didn't make you run. All you could do was shut off.

A group of travelers understood this after being mugged by bandits. Before the shattered moon came from the horizon, the three had been held at gun point and forced to remove their inventory. All they could do now was sit on the side of the dirt road and stare at the trees that stood across from them. Whether it was out of shock for losing their food and water supply fifty miles away from civilization, or whether it was the dread of their vulnerability to the wild grimm, the three travelers continued to stare across the road, into the bushy area that surely held a beast. Finally, Aaron, the tallest one of the group, came to his senses.

"That happened," he spoke. He wore a t-shirt in the relatively nippy weather, something people would be surprised to see if they didn't know about the mugging.

"Yep." The somewhat tall girl, Judith, had the same treatment. Her bushy hair provided some protection against the wind, but in the end proved useless against a grimm attack.

"They took our weapons." The shortest and stockiest of the group, Cyrus, took to drawing in the dirt. "We're grimm food now."

The two others took silence to this statement. Being faced with the reality of the fact shut them down once more into a catatonic state. So, they continued their staring contest with the shrubbery on the other side of the road. Aaron looked at the thin leaves, shaking from the simple pushes of the wind. He looked at the flowers that dotted the top of each bush. He looked at the four red berries-

_Wait,_ Aaron thought. In the past thirty minutes, he had known with certainty that the bush didn't have red berries on it. He squinted and looked closer.

The red moved.

Suddenly, two wolf-like grimm jumped out of the bush and landed right in front of the trio. Perhaps it was because of the lack of excitement from their prey, but the grimm seemed almost perplexed at the fearless, yet despairing, group of travelers. The two pairs of red eyes looked at one another as if to communicate, then looked back at the team. Soon, their puzzlement morphed into excitement, and the two wolf-grimm began circling around the three.

At this moment, Cyrus' despair receded as he started to get up. His breathing became heavy, his movements frantic, and nothing stopped him from attempting to run. However, one of the grimm cut him off and forced him back into the circle with a growl. He back stepped and took to the back of his taller friends, then laid down and covered his head. If he couldn't see, he couldn't feel, Aaron assumed. He himself was almost tempted to do the same, but the feelings of uselessness came over him again, and he continued to stare at the grimm who made their approach. At the very least, he could close his eyes and accept what would happen.

Many scholars hypothesized about what happens after death. Maybe his aura will get absorbed back into the planet. Perhaps he would be in the second life. Aaron was unsure, but in preparation, he said a quick prayer to whatever lived beyond, and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

His ears indicated no sort of movement or lunge towards him. He opened his eyes to find the grimm distracted, looking past the group. Did they hear something? With this sudden stop, hope overcame his despair. If the grimm were distracted, perhaps they could sneak away. It was a long shot, but if they had the chance, it would be best to take it. He started to make his move, shaking his friends to get their attention. Judith looked over, and Cyrus uncovered his head to see.

Aaron whispered faintly, "We need to run."

He could see it. The two started to feel what he himself felt. They nodded and slowly started to get up while the grimm stared into the forest. The few seconds felt like an eternity, which itself felt way longer due to their sloth-paced movements. The second they got into a standing position, however, time reverted back to normal and the trio abruptly sprinted down the dirt road, towards the fifty mile distance to their homes. It would take days to reach home, and the group didn't think at all about hunger or thirst. All they could think about was the present, and that meant to survive another day.

The grimm were always unpredictable, however, and one of the wolf grimm immediately cut off their escape. Unlike before, however, this grimm was not so patient. Rather than move them back into the previous position, the grimm leapt towards the tallest prey.

It was almost as if time was slowing down, and while this would be good in any other circumstance, Aaron's own movements were slowed down significantly. _Is this what it's like when you die_? He wondered as he watched the grimm inch towards him closer and closer. But, something caught his eye as he remained frozen in time: a scarf inching at a faster rate towards the grimm's neck. The scarf masterfully wrapped around the grimm's neck, fast enough that the grimm hadn't even had time to react. Time slowly reverted back to normal as the grimm shot out of view, into the group of foliage the trio had not too long ago stared at.

_Snap! _The tall trees broke with the force of the grimm and fell between the group and the second grimm.

"Quite a strange time to be wearing t-shirts, wouldn't you say?" A voice rang out from the wreckage and surprised the travelers. Out from behind the torn trunk came an individual with black and scruffy hair. The scarf that had strangled the grimm retreated back into the newcomer's large, white sleeves, though Aaron did notice a second, black undershirt inside the sweater, the same color as the long pants he wore. Attached to the back of him were two sheaths that hung down to his waist, the hilts of his swords at the level of his arm length. _Who was this man_, Aaron thought. _Was he another bandit? Or was he…_

"You're a hunter."

The black-haired man smiled and nodded. "Bingo!"

Without any second's notice, the second grimm jumped over the fallen trees with the intent of tackling the hunter. In a single moment, the hunter stepped to the side and drew his left sword, a single-edged straight blade. As if it were as simple as breathing, he swung his sword down and cut the head clean off the wolf grimm. As per usual, the grimm dropped no blood as its body disintegrated into nothingness. The hunter then sheathed his weapon and turned to the three, all of whom were flabbergasted at the turn of events.

"So, care to explain to me why you all are out here scantily-clad?"

* * *

"You guys are lucky. No one else would have as much supplies as me," the hunter said as he took four thin, cushioned sleeping bags out of his small backpack, an astonishing size for the amount of camping material he took out.

The sun had just started to trade places with the broken moon as the hunter made a small camping ground for the three others. Just a few miles from their previous location, the camping site wasn't too shabby. The trees were at just the right distance to keep them from feeling claustrophobic, and the bushes kept behind the trunks from the travelers' sights. The dirt road was just within looking distance as well, if an escape was needed. Inside their little circle, the hunter put down all the items of interest in a small pile, next to the curvature of the sleeping bags. Lamps, lighters, spray repellent, jackets, and boxes of what looked like rations. The sight of the food made Aaron's stomach growl, and he could have sworn he heard his friends sucking up their drool. All the panic had made them hungry, it seemed. Once he finished pulling out the camping equipment, the hunter looked at his entourage and smiled.

"Here you guys go. Make sure to chew before you swallow," he said while he tossed the rations at each one of the group. Immediately, the three sat down in the grass and pulled out the food. It seemed to be a simple country-side meal: a mixture of chicken with a variety of vegetables. But to the trio, this was a five star meal. It didn't take long for them all to start devouring the platter set before them. However, while his two friends kept their faces in the food, Aaron instead kept his eyes on the hunter while eating, watching him pile up dried grass and weeks between all the sleeping bags. He then put a few logs on top, and sat back down across the group, rubbing his hands together vigorously.

"Uh… sir?" Aaron asked.

The hunter smiled. "Call me Soul."

The friends were nearing the end of their food. "So, Soul, what are you doing?"

Soul spoke without stopping his hands. "Ah, well, you'll see in a bit."

Cyrus spoke up behind Aaron. "So, you're actually a hunter, huh?"

Soul nodded. "Yep, it's been my dream since I was a kid."

"You look really young for a hunter, though," Cyrus continued, his cheeks stuffed with the food he shoveled into his mouth.

"Well, I guess you could say we had a new influx of hunters after what happened at Beacon." The hunter looked at the ground, his face grim.

"Oh… Sorry about that," Aaron said.

Soul smiled again. "No, don't worry about it. All I can do is keep on going. Becoming a hunter early on just helps find the perpetrators faster." He continued to rub his palms. "So, I've told you about me. What about you guys?"

"My name is Aaron."

"I'm Judith."

"Cyrus."

"Good to meet you all." He stopped rubbing his hands. "Well, looks like the fire is ready."

Soul scooted towards the mesh of wood, and put one of his hands towards the logs. Out from his hand came a quick spark of blue light that very nearly blinded Aaron. But, once the light disappeared, a small ember took its place, gradually growing in size as it engulfed the dead twigs and leaves around it. The three jumped back at the sight.

"What was that? Is that some new Atlas technology?" Cyrus asked in surprise.

The hunter rubbed the center of his palm. "No, actually. It's my semblance." Soul smiled while he showed his hand, pulsating with a blue-ish electricity. "I can make lightning. Only issue is that it's tough to come out of my body. I need to produce some static electricity before I can do that, so it takes a while."

"That sounds unfortunate," Judith spoke with an apathetic tone. Aaron could tell her fear and hunger were now replaced with her typical callous expression. Luckily, Soul didn't seem to take it to heart as he scooted back onto his own sleeping bag area, adjacent from the three.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" he joked in response. "But it's what I have in the end. Can't really complain about it if I can make fires, right?" There was a small chuckle from Soul to show he didn't take offense.

He then continued speaking. "Anyways, you're all from Autumn village, right? I think we can make it back there tomorrow if we leave early morning."

Arron, for the first time, smiled back. "We haven't said it yet, but thank you! If it wasn't for you, we'd be grimm food."

Soul was taken aback at the sudden, loud gratitude. "Well, there's finally something from one of you! I was afraid the experience left you numb!"

"I guess we're normalizing. It was… shocking to say the least. I have to ask though, why are you helping us this much?"

Soul took a stick and started poking the bright fire. The sun had fully dropped below the horizon now, and the campfire became the only source of light for the group. "I'm a hunter, so we're supposed to help those in trouble, but there's definitely more to it. I don't like to see good or innocent people die, I guess. I just had to help."

Cyrus, fully recovered from his fear as well it seems, as he interrupted the conversation. "Man, hunters are so cool! I wish I had gone to a hunter academy!"

"Why didn't you? I think that's a great wish," Soul responded.

"Err… well, I had to stay and help my family financially during that time."

Judith snickered. "Please, that wasn't the real reason."

"Judith, don't be like that," Aaron chastised.

Cyrus scratched his head awkwardly. "No, it's fine. To be honest, Mr. Hunter, I'm frightened of grimm. I can't help but run the instant I see one. Fighting just doesn't seem to be in my system."

Soul chuckled in a friendly way. "I knew someone at Beacon who was exactly like you. He couldn't really fight when he first came to the school either, but by the time of… it, he could fight bear grimm with no difficulty. Besides, nothing is stopping you from learning your semblance or unlocking your aura."

Cyrus smiled. "Ah, Mr. Hunter, you're too kind. I thank you as well for what you've done. We owe you big time for this. Just let us know what you want, and we'll help!"

"Actually, if you can, could you let me know if you've seen these people recently?" With that, Soul took a set of three photographs out from his bag and handed them over the fire. Aaron, seated in the middle, grabbed them and leaned back to give the two others room to look. The first was a woman with black, shorter hair and yellow eyes with a red dress. Her hair covered one of her eyes, but what mainly caught their attention was her black arm, a shade completely different from the rest of her body, with claws instead of fingernails. It was rather unsettling looking at her. Next to her in the picture were two people, a scantily-clad, dark-skinned woman with green hair, and a man with grey hair and what looked like metallic legs. None of the three knew who this was. The second picture was another woman, this time with pink and brown hair, and eyes that followed suit. She was wearing a suit, held an umbrella, and wore a fancy-looking hat. Again, no one knew who she was, though the impression she left was a bit nicer than the previous picture. The group finally moved onto the third picture, which had a red-haired man. He wore a red and black mask that completely covered his eyes, and held a sheathed katana on his hip, though Aaron could tell the sheath itself was a weapon too. Aaron had no clue as to who this was, but that didn't stop Judith from answering.

"That's Adam, isn't it? The leader of the White Fang. Why are you looking for him?"

Soul, while smiling still, had the hint of some dark emotion in his eyes that chilled Aaron to his core. "Just some bounty hunter work. It's nothing as dangerous as fighting him, I just need to get some information on him."

"Then maybe you should find those bandits that robbed us," Cyrus brought up. "There were two White Fang members with them. Maybe the bandit gangs are working with the White Fang?"

Soul himself was in thought. "It's a good guess." He then stood up, walked over, and took the photographs back. "It's getting late. If we want to leave early, you guys should go to sleep."

"What about you?" Aaron asked.

"I'm going to keep watch to make sure more grimm don't attack us." Soul smiled again. "Don't worry about me. I'll go to sleep once I'm sure grimm aren't nearby. Have a good night, guys." Soul then jumped onto a tree branch above and disappeared through the green leaves.

Taking heed of Soul's words, Aaron tucked himself into his sleeping bag. Though it was incredibly thin, the material in the bag kept him from feeling uncomfortable. It was such a great gift from Soul, so much so that Aaron felt required to pay back this favor. In the care of Soul's watch, Aaron had little difficulty falling into a deep sleep.

* * *

"Finally we have a lead!" Soul was sitting on the tallest branch of a tree a good distance away from the campsite. He was looking around, scanning the horizon for smoke or light, excluding the one where the three others were at.

_Be careful, bandits can be tough, especially if some of them unlocked their auras. _A voice rang in Soul's head, clear as day.

"It'll be fine. I handled the last group of bandits and they had someone who could use aura."

_It's a miracle you survived that fight. Just… keep your wits about you. If these bandits are with the White Fang, they could be very strong._

"Well, they haven't met me yet."

_Haven't met us,_ The Voice corrected.

"Right, right," Soul muttered. After looking around several times, he decided to use his semblance.

Judith had called his semblance unfortunate, but that was far from the truth. Sure, Soul couldn't shoot lightning from his hand at any given time or control the weather, but electricity limited to his body gave him other opportunities. He could stimulate his muscles, of course, but when he moved the electricity to his head…

Like a powerful gust of wind, his senses became drastically enhanced. The horizon grew in distance as the stars in the night sky became as bright as the sun. The rustle of the trees in the air sounded like a multitude of waterfalls. The touch of the bark on his fingers felt so rough that Soul was almost afraid his skin would tear if he moved. But, that wasn't the end of it. Soul increased the electricity in his head a bit more, and suddenly he could "feel" every bit of life for miles. He could feel the static electricity of his three friends a walking distance away. He could feel a group of grimm walking down the dirt road ten miles away. And slightly further away was his goal: a large crowd of people. He could sense the metal in the weapons they held as well. There was no way a regular village would have so many guns and blades as they did. Soul turned towards the direction and released the electricity from his head. As always, a tough headache struck him afterwards.

_I HATE when you do that. _Soul heard a groan after The Voice spoke.

"I can't help it. At least with your semblance, the pain goes away pretty fast."

With that, the hunter made the scarf in his sweater wrap around the trunk of the tree. He then jumped in the opposite direction of where the bandits were, and with a simple push from his semblance, the scarf constricted immediately and shot Soul over the thick forest. His scarf uncoiled from the tree and followed behind its host, being led by Soul's grip. As soon as he started to lose momentum, however, the hunter threw his metal scarf to the furthest tree it could reach, and did the same process. This was another thing that Soul appreciated about his semblance. Sure, he couldn't blast grimm from a distance, but in touching range, that was another story. As long as something was metal, he could use it to conduct his electricity, and if it could move, it became a part of his own body, like the scarf, a long pattern of rubbery, interconnected rings of metal. It became his third limb, and helped him travel much faster than on foot. It wouldn't take long until he would reach his destination then.

It wouldn't take long until he got closer to his revenge.

* * *

"I tell you, bein' the leader of a group of bandits like y'all really makes my heart warm!"

Arnie drank to his heart's content, sitting at one of the three tables that sat his underlings. They, in response, took a long gulp from their own mugs. Only a few weeks ago, they were a small bandit group that could rarely manage to take a purse from an old lady. Their base, or rather the lack thereof, consisted of a couple of tents with holes in the roof. Since their joint venture with the White Fang, however, hunters feared to reprimand them and their bounty, as a response, had increased drastically. Of course, many of their numbers were hesitant with such a union, especially when the representatives refused to set their tents outside of the walls, but the pay back by gaining strong warriors made Arnie feel like a fool for thinking against it. So, he couldn't be any happier with his current situation.

With their notoriety expanded, their numbers grew as well, giving Arnie and his gang the ability to raid a small village last week. The village had a wooden, 10 foot fence surrounding the square shape that the houses had made. In the center of the square stood one slightly larger wooden cabin, where Arnie assumed the village's leader lived. Regardless, he took it as his own, while the other houses were given to his gang. However, the bandits had risen in number, so much so that tents were still used. Thus, tents lined the area between, in front, and behind of the houses. Indeed, Arnie was truly the leader of a group to be feared.

As he sat on the moldy, wooden chair on the side of his wooden abode, one of the night watchmen ran to Arnie's location. Once he arrived, he could barely speak.

"In…truder…," the kid managed out in-between breaths.

Arnie raised an eyebrow. "Speak louder, boy!"

"Intruder!"

From the corner of the shoddy cabin, towards the only entrance of the bandit village, flew one of the bandits, as if he had been thrown by a grimm. His fainted body landed on a wooden table adjacent from Arnie's, its hosts jumping back in surprise. Those from the other tables sprung out of their seats as well and immediately dashed towards the action, out of sight from Arnie's position.

"Heh, just a grimm, is it? We can handle this no problem." He started walking towards the corner. "Sheesh, didn't think I had such weak members watching our gates."

The younger bandit, his panting subdued, spoke up again and stopped Arnie. "No, sir. It's not a grimm. It's a hunter!"

The clamor grew louder and louder as the fighting came closer to their position, still hidden from view behind the cabin. "Oh, for the love of… here! Take this, I'm going to wake up the faunus."

Arnie handed him a gun and gave him a push, the kid hesitantly walking. He then walked in the opposite direction of the fighting, towards the only open corner of the village where two white tents resided. If anyone could handle hunters, it would be other hunters. Even if they were faunus.

"Hey," Arnie yelled as he reached the White Fang tents. "Rise and shine! We have an emergency!"

Slowly, a deer faunus was short antlers came out of his tent. "What a nice surprise," he said sarcastically, his gaze as bothered as possible. "And to what do I owe this honor?"

"There's a hunter attacking us. Wake up your friend and get out there."

The fauness gave Arnie a discerning look. "Arnie, I don't think you understand. We aren't here to help you. We're here for you to help us. If this isn't a part of our mission, then we won't take part of it." He climbed back into his tent.

Arnie was furious. "What?! You think I'm gonna let you ignore me like that?! I thought we had a contract!"

The fauness spoke through the tent fabric "Yes, we did. But like bandits, we're breaking the rules."

Arnie took the revolver from his holster and aimed at the tent. "Alright, then. Take-"

Before he finished, the second faunus, a horse faunus with hooves below her knee, came out of her tent in a flash and slammed her fist into the bandit's gut, sending him staggering backwards. In the same vein, she returned into her tent within the second. Arnie, in contrast, struggled to breathe as his diaphragm spasmed at the punch he received.

"But… if the hunter finds you… they'll attack you… too," the bandit leader struggled out. The sounds of the fighting grew closer and closer.

"No, they'll only attack you. You're the leader, aren't you? Get out there and start fighting. If you survive, then maybe we'll stay. Now, please, quiet it down."

Arnie, finally, stood up and walked off, muttering racist remarks as he came to the conflict. Rather than walk towards the drinking area where the battle had changed to, however, the leader turned tail and started running. The pathway was rather close to the fight, but he could manage to get out if the hunter was distracted enough. On the way down the dirt road, Arnie caught the sight of the hunter. His fighting was unlike others the bandits had seen: he was almost wild in his movements. It wasn't that he didn't fight with grace, but his grace was complimented with a tenacity and unpredictability that was only seen in grimm. He would jump over the slash of an attack and then counterattack from above, yet other times he would actually take the shots of a bullet if it meant he could attack the gunner. The combination of his weapons confounded Arnie as well: a leaf-shaped sword and a longer, single-bladed straight sword. Arnie could have sworn he saw a third, longer blade shoot out of the hunter's sleeve, so fast that the bandits were stunned when they found themselves disarmed or thrown,

The bandit leader had to pull himself from the devastating warfare and sprinted towards the gate, now in sight. Yet when he had very nearly made it past the guard post, he suddenly felt a heaviness to his right leg that gradually increased in weight until he found it immovable. Arnie looked down and found a strange cloth as the culprit, encircling his shin. He tried to shake it off, yet each movement only made it tighter, like it had a mind of its own. This was when he noticed it wasn't simply a stray cloth, but rather a scarf-like object that originated from behind him. Unexpectedly, the cloth pulled Arnie back with a force unlike anything he had felt. Arnie yelled as the cloth pulled him towards the hunter, who had just finished off the last of the bandits courageous enough to approach him. The cloth twisted him over and finally let go, dropping him within five feet of the hunter. The hunter, Arnie noticed, was just barely over the age of eighteen. His black hair and blue eyes weren't exactly striking to the bandit, though his oversized sweater made Arnie chuckle a bit, despite the situation. Perhaps it was out of mercy that the hunter kept his blade aside, though he was noticeably disgruntled at the laughter.

"You have someone. White Fang. Where are they," the hunter spoke in a gruff voice, his eyes devoid of passion.

"T-there." Arnie pointed towards the corner where the two faunus had set up their tents. The hunter turned away from the bandit leader towards the White Fang representatives. Arnie, at the same time, got back up and slowed his breath, relieved he was spared. While the bandit leader should have been completely relieved, however, anger slowly filtered into his emotions. He saw his friends, and even those whom he would call family, laying about the area surrounding him. Many were injured horribly, knocked out, or simply beaten into submission. Though he felt regret for a brief moment in his cowardly retreat, hatred for the hunter pushed him towards action. With the hunter's back towards him, Arnie took the revolver from his holster and took aim.

He struggled to stand straight, but managed and called out for the hunter. "Hey! Don't you dare mess with my family, hunter!"

The leader then pulled the trigger multiple times as the hunter turned back. Arnie was even pleased when he saw all of the bullets, save for one, strike him directly in the chest, one even piercing his neck. The hunter stepped backwards, eyes-wide in surprise. Arnie laughed and took a knife out from his knife sheathe, then walked closer to the hunter. Those that still were conscious cheered in support, and some of the lesser injured got up in awe of their leader who had just beaten a hunter.

"What do you know? We could kill a hunter without those filthy faunus getting in our business!" Arnie made it face to face with the hunter, expecting to see fear in his expression. Instead, the eyes of the hunter had reverted back into dulled ones, lacking the same surprise it had before. Arnie got a small chill, but continued his onslaught, sticking the small knife into the hunters gut and forcing himself to laugh. He laughed as if the fear had been misplaced in him previously.

The hunter joined with him.

Arnie quickly stopped as the hunter's laughter grew in volume. "You think you can kill _me_? You seriously think you can kill _me_?" The hunter growled. He shoved Arnie back.

Arnie noticed that the bullets in the hunter slid out from their holes and dropped onto the grassy ground. Almost immediately, the wounds that Arnie caused healed with little difficulty. Even the skin visibly torn apart from the stab wound now laced itself together until all that was left were the holes in the clothing. The bullet wounds, as well, closed as if a surgeon had sewn the skin back together, all in a matter of seconds. A horrified Arnie looked back up at the hunter's face, a horrifying grin growing on his face.

"No one can kill me. Not since Beacon."

* * *

(Author note: Hey! If you got to this point, then thanks for reading through the first chapter of my first fan fiction! I really enjoy writing, but it definitely is a skill that needs to be developed. So, if you can provide it, I would really appreciate some constructive criticism! Similarly, if you enjoy the first chapter of _RWBY: Revenant_, why don't you stick around for the other chapters? If I keep writing, I can assure you my grammatical ability will slowly, but surely, increase. I have some great ideas for _Revenant_ that I have yet to produce. Also, I don't know too much about the RWBY fan fiction scene, so if this kind of story is a bit generic, then sorry! It's a plot, separate from the main RWBY story, that I had created so long ago and just had to put onto paper. I hope the future chapters will manage to make it distinct. So, thanks again for reading!)


	2. Chapter 2: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 2: Before – Introductions

Liu Xiu closed his eyes just as the car slowed down at the front of Beacon. He assumed that he was still asleep and didn't have to go to school until he got up the next morning. He quickly put a piece of skin between two of his fingers and squeezed. All he needed to do was pinch himself and he'd wake up again.

This time, it didn't work.

His father sat beside him, marveling at the Valen Architecture. He opened Liu's eyes with a shake when the car had come to a complete stop.

"You have got to see this, Liu! Look at the size of this school! Beacon is jaw-dropping!" His father, one of the head generals of Mistral, was easily stunned anytime he entered foreign soil. He quickly got out of his side of the taxi and went to open the trunk. Liu took a deep breath and reluctantly follow suit. He stepped out of the left side of the taxi into the crisp Vale air, a deep contrast from the cold, mountainous area where his family lived. Ahead of him stood a long, almost endless walkway that eventually led to the giant spire of Beacon's primary tower. All around the taxi were students narrowing into the entrance, beginning their long journey down the path of a hunter, sometimes with a friend or two. Liu would try to join them and fill the shoes placed by the past generations.

Liu's father came up to his side, his near shoulder-length black hair blowing in the wind like the model hero he always was. Age had been very kind to him, like a fine wine. He had no wrinkles or blemishes, and scars only served to further mold Mr. Xiu into an awe-inspiring leader. His grey eyes gave both compassion and critique in the same look, as a good leader always should. Even when Liu and his father wore similar Mistral clothing, there was distinct difference in how they looked. Liu's brown eyes could not give the same impression that his dad could, and he knew better than to blame the one he got them from. Liu, rather than trying to compete with his dad's long hair, instead took to cutting it off the neck and over the eyes. Even then, it still came out as messy rather than heroic. Even if Liu stood up straight or had a similar tone, his father would still come out looking like the true leader. The new student knew he would get nowhere making such comparisons, yet he couldn't help but focus on what made him, him, and what made his dad, his dad.

Liu awoke from his train of thought via a sudden hug. "Finally, my little kid is growing up! You're going all the school in an entirely different continent! You sure you don't want to stay in Mistral and go to a normal school like your brother and sister? I bet Mom would like that a lot," Mr. Xiu said.

"D-dad, people are looking," Liu complained while trying to push his dad away.

"Oh, I get it. You're too old to give your ol' dad a hug. Well, just give me this moment. It's the first time you're leaving the house, after all." Liu saw genuine sadness in his father's eyes. Yet, he swore he could also see what he imagined his father felt: disappointment. Disappointment for failing the entrance exam of Haven Academy, the school for hunters in Mistral and the Alma Mater of his dad. Disappointment for losing almost immediately in junior tournaments when Liu was a kid. Disappointment for his single leaf-shaped short sword as his hunter weapon of choice. Disappointment in his semblance's limitations. The list continued in Liu's head while he looked into his dad's gaze. He knew his father loved him as his son, going to all his junior tournaments, asking Headmaster Ozpin for the favor of taking care of Liu, and paying for the school supplies to study at Beacon, yet there was always a cloud of expectations, and later, disappointments when they weren't reached.

His dad pulled him out of his stupor yet again with a pat on the back. "Anyways, let's head in, shall we?" His father handed Liu one of the luggage, and took another himself before walking up the steps into the walkway. Liu looked up at Beacon again, sighed, and jogged to catch up to his dad.

* * *

By the time the two had made it to the courtyard surrounded by a circle of arches, the son was already out of breath. Meanwhile, the father still stood gallantly.

Liu's father laughed. "I guess the school with roughen you up a bit, huh?"

Liu caught his breath a bit. "It'll be… no problem…"

"Well, I'm going to go look for Ozpin and introduce him to you." Mr. Xiu handed Liu the other luggage. "Wait here for a bit."

"Wait, Dad! Please don't embarrass me!"

"Liu, don't worry. It will only take a second. I'm sure Ozpin would be glad to meet you." Before Liu could argue further, his father already ran up the steps into the main tower, leaving his son to sit by the fence near the garden. He was already hesitant going here, and the encouragement by his father made him want to run back down the walkway into the city streets. He could probably fend for himself, living alone doing odd jobs. He could sell his Mistral clothing, assuming foreign clothes had a high enough demand in Vale, then he could hide in a hotel. Once he did that he could-

No, there's no point in doing that. He was already here, he knew that doing such a thing would only cause more embarrassment. So, Liu found a rock and started kicking it around the pavement. Now a sports player, that would be crazy profession, but it would be far easier for him to become. Liu found himself outclassed any time he took part in a duel, but at least when he played sports with his friends in Mistral, he made some contribution to the team he was in. It wasn't significant, but it helped. He focused his efforts on the rock, poorly attempting to juggle it between his feet as the other new students walked past him into the gymnasium. Some students gave him a weird look, but overall, most remained unperturbed to his little game.

This time, Liu kicked the rock around in a circle, going a few meters away from the luggage before turning back, his eyes on the rock. His mind recreated the situation, changing him into a pro-soccer player, with the rock as his ball and the two pieces of luggage as the ends of his goal. He dribbled forward, dodging the invisible visitor team skillfully and coming upon the goal, its own goalie startled in Liu's imagination. Liu attempted to kick the rock into the gap between both pieces of luggage, only to miss. When he expected the rock to just go through the hole in the fence, though, the rock instead hit the foot of a burly man crouching down and leaning on the fence.

Liu almost made an audible yelp when he saw his new visitor. The man quickly looked up into the eyes of the kicker after the rock hit his shoe. Liu's heart sank when the man stood up at nearly a head's length higher than himself. He was very well-built with solid black eyes, and even his curly, red hair seemed oppressive. Though his face showed no emotion, Liu felt as if the man was furious. Immediately, Liu jumped to the ground and bowed his head.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to his your shoe. I wasn't even looking!" Liu closed his eyes and hoped the strange man would leave him alone. However, he felt himself get pulled by the neck of his shirt, leading into Liu feeling himself lifting back onto his feet. He slightly opened his eyes to find the man holding his shirt, and the grip strength made Liu nearly faint until the man let go.

_Wait, he let go of me?_ Liu's mind started racing in confusion: the man looked very discontent, yet he let the perpetrator of the rock kick go. Liu, again, flinched when the man raised his hand, yet his mind fell back into confusion when his shirt was being swept off by the new man, unfurling the wrinkles in the Mistral clothing. Upon a second look, Liu realized he wasn't an adult man, but an actual student. The red jacket with the white undershirt gave the obvious hint, but looking at his face, Liu could see the shadows of youth on his cheeks and nose.

"O-oh, you're a student, too," Liu found himself saying.

The student nodded. Nothing more.

"What's your name?"

The deep voice rumbled in Liu's ears. "Ursus."

"C-cool! My name is Liu. Nice to meet you. I guess we'll see each other more this year?"

The student nodded. Nothing more. Silence ensued.

Again, Liu tried to create conversation. "You like my clothing? It's, uh, from Mistral. Because… well, I guess, I'm from Mistral…"

Liu cringed at the awkward comment he made, but was surprised to see Ursus nod when asked if he liked Liu's attire. Liu would have talked more had he not been intimidated by the guy's stare. Yet, the quiet air between the two made Liu cringe even more and beckoned for more stupidity from him. After ten seconds or so, Liu was thinking of starting more meaningless conversation, but was stopped by Ursus' abrupt walk towards the gym. Even his pace was goliath in size, and kept Liu's attention as the muscular student walked in strides. In what seemed like a few paces, Ursus already entered the structure all the students had gone into. Needless to say, the experience puzzled Liu beyond belief.

However, his stupor was broken without warning when a new voice came from behind, startling Liu and quickly spinning him around. "Hey! Wanna get out of the way?"

Behind Liu stood a slightly shorter girl with a very irritated expression. She had short, white hair hanging down to the top of her shoulders, touching the jean jacket she wore. She wore gloves, but that wasn't the main trait that caught Liu's attention. Rather, the pupils of her eyes were long, black slits that seemed to stare into the soul of anyone it looked at. The girl noticed the eyes wandering towards her reptilian trait, which only served to make her more annoyed.

"What, you live in a cave? Haven't you seen a reptile faunus before?" The girl's words shook Liu again, and he couldn't help but stutter.

"Oh! S-sorry," Liu responded while moving aside. "M-my name is Liu Xiu. What's yours?"

The girl rolled her eyes and walked away. "Idiot," she muttered while moving towards the building, intentionally bumping Liu's shoulder on the way over.

That was that, Liu thought. He knew he couldn't stay here. The two experiences left him traumatized enough. Once his father came back, Liu would try to bring up the topic if he gave him a chance to talk. He would talk about the creepy and large, but possibly kind, man who apparently was a student at Haven and the rude faunus who pushed him out of the way. Liu had tried hard, but his best wasn't enough. He could go back home and go to a normal school, live a normal life, and let the real hunters do their job.

But in truth, Liu knew he couldn't. He knew himself far too well, and such a confrontation was something out of his comfort zone. So, Liu sighed and leaned on the railing of the fence again, waiting for his dad once more.

That was until more bizarre company arrived.

* * *

Liu was tempted once again to kick the rock around, but his past experience scared him too much to even consider messing around with his surroundings, for fear of attracting more undesirable attention. Instead, Liu took to leaning his back against the fence while squatting down, messing around with his phone. He checked e-mails, good-bye text messages from some friends and family back in Mistral, and even the calendar. If this didn't look natural, Liu didn't know what would. Yet, his assumption that he would be left alone was a far-fetched wish at Haven Academy.

Though his head was down, Liu could immediately tell there was someone else's presence when a shadow appeared over him.

"You haven't gone into the gym yet? Won't your friends miss you?" The loud voice nearly made Liu jump.

He looked up to find a feminine figure block the sun out of his face. Once he stood up, he could see the new student more clearly: a brown-haired girl of tanned skin. Unlike the faunus girl who came to Liu, this one had longer, straight hair that reached to her bosom. Her shorts and t-shirt gave the impression she cared little for her appearance, but Liu couldn't help but be stunned by her honey-colored eyes. Similarly, her friendly and energetic smile deeply warmed Liu's heart, which had been full of negativity until now.

Liu shook his head and responded. "A- Actually, I'm waiting for someone."

"What a coincidence! I am, too!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! I guess we're too peas in a pod!"

Out of nowhere, the new girl started to do squats.

_…Squats!?_ Liu shook his head. He stood up from his own squatting position and spoke again. "I'm Liu Xiu. From Mistral. And you?"

The girl continued to exercise while speaking. "I'm Sagitari, but my friends often call me Tari. But wow, Mistral? That's such a long way away! You didn't go to Haven instead?"

"I wanted to have a nice change in scenery, I suppose. Besides, Beacon let me in based on the written exam alone."

Sagitari switched to push-ups, still talking with her face to the ground. "Strange, Beacon let me in on the physical exam alone! I didn't do too well when it came to the written exam."

Liu looked around to find all the passing students giving both him and Sagitari strange glances. "H-hey, should you be exercising now?"

Sagitari got up from her position, and gave a puzzled look. "Why shouldn't I? We need all the strength we can get for the trial tomorrow!"

"Trial!? A-and besides, muscles don't work like that, right?"

Sagitari smiled with the same warm smile as before. "Semblances are interesting, aren't they? And if you didn't know about tomorrow, maybe you should join me too! Come on!" She then grabbed Liu by the hand with a pull far stronger than he had ever expected from her. "Let's go for a jog around the courtyard!"

Liu found himself following her even when she let go, for reasons he didn't seem to understand. He found the girl as someone he couldn't get along with, yet he didn't seem to dislike her company. Indeed, even as they circle the courtyard, Liu found himself trying to catch up to Sagitari to look at her again. She was such a puzzle, but she wasn't anything if not kind-hearted and helpful. Liu, for the first time since he arrived, had some form of interest in staying at the school, if it meaning knowing more about this strange girl.

His jog was cut short, however, when he came back around the courtyard and saw his father with an old, grey haired individual drinking coffee. At this time, Sagitari had already passed by and continued down the courtyard again, so Liu had no choice but to leave her instead and talk with his dad.

"Liu? What are you doing?" his dad asked, seeing as his son had just arrived from jogging at a distance from the luggage.

"Sorry… just… training, I guess," Liu muttered between breaths. He really needed to exercise, he thought.

"Ah, Kang, I assume this is your son," the grey-haired man said, his glasses balancing perfectly on his nose.

"Oh, sorry! Liu, this is Headmaster Ozpin. Ozpin, this is my son, Liu."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Liu mustered.

"Enchanted," Ozpin said as he shook hands with Liu. Liu could tell Ozpin was critiquing him from behind those eyes, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Yep, Ozpin and I go way back…" Liu's father was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. He took the phone out and looked at the caller.

"Shoot, I got to take this. Liu, get to know Ozpin, I'm sure he'll let you know all about the school." With that, Liu's dad left the courtyard and went back into the main tower, leaving his son with the headmaster.

Liu looked longingly at his father, who was the only thing connecting Liu and headmaster Ozpin. Thankfully, the headmaster was quick to start up conversation with Liu. "So, Liu, how is your impression of Beacon Academy?"

"I-it's very big, sir. It looks much bigger than Haven."

"Yes, it is quite large, but it is a school of quality, not quantity. You should do well to remember that."

Liu felt Ozpin's statement was directed towards him, and not in a manner of expectations. He felt he had to ask something, but continued to keep quiet. Ozpin, however, had a discerning eye and saw the look of indecision on Liu's face.

"Do you want to say something, Liu?"

Liu looked away as he spoke. "No, sir. At least nothing important."

Ozpin smiled, surprisingly. "I like to listen to even the unimportant questions sometimes."

Liu, very surprised at Ozpin's friendliness, finally felt he had the ability to speak. "Well, Mr. Ozpin. Why did you let me join Beacon?"

Ozpin looked confused. "Why do you ask that?"

"I failed the physical exam. I've always lost in the first round when it came to junior tournaments. And I'm not sure if it's obvious, but I'm frightened to go here!" Liu himself was stunned at his openness.

Luckily, Ozpin just chuckled to himself at the statements. "Liu, there's plenty more to a hunter than simply how well they can fight. Sure, we fight grimm, but the primary job of a hunter is to help people. Now, if you wanted to go to a hunter's academy simply to impress your father, then I would have my hesitations, but I can tell you truly have that desire to help, and it's the job of the academy to make sure you are well-equipped to do so." Ozpin put a hand on Liu's shoulder. "So, I ask you to stay, Liu. Grow and help people. Become the hunter you truly want to be, not the one you think you're supposed to be."

Liu was unable to speak. Of course, he still had his reservations of going to such an academy, but with such a headmaster, he had to at least try to stay. Liu nodded to Ozpin, who then smiled.

"Well, then, you should go into the gym. Tomorrow is a big day for you. Oh, and don't worry about your father. He'll be in town for a while." Ozpin patted Liu's shoulder. "Have a great year here."

Again, Liu nodded to the headmaster before the man walked back into the central tower. Liu had encountered many things and people that shocked him enough to want to leave. He feared for his life as the tall, buff student stared at him. He felt embarrassed as the faunus yelled at him in public. Yet, he met Sagitari, a strange, yet friendly girl, and the headmaster, who assured Liu his choice wasn't misplaced. With such a wide array of experiences, Liu had no choice but to continue on and see where this path would lead him.

Sagitari came back around and stopped by Liu, not even breaking a single sweat. "Liu? Are you okay?"

"I hope I will be."

"Good! Then let's go in the gym!" Sagitari then grabbed both the luggage of Liu alongside her own and walked towards the gym. Liu ran behind.

"Hey, aren't you waiting for someone?"

"I think they already went into the gym. Maybe I missed them!" Sagitari giggled, a deep contrast from her monstrous strength. "But, hey, Liu," Sagitari continued, "Just stay with me tomorrow, and I'll help you out."

"Why?"

"Well, because I bet you want to pass! So, I want to help!"

Liu was surprised, and even a little paranoid, at how quick Sagitari warmed up to him, but it was a welcoming change from what he experienced today.

Probably for the first time today, Liu truly smiled

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! If you got to this point, then thanks for reading the second chapter of _RWBY: Revenant_! If you can, please provide some constructive criticism! I really enjoy writing, but it certainly is a skill that needs sharpening. Similarly, if you've enjoyed this story so far, why don't you stick around for the other chapters? I want to do a lot more with _Revenant_ that I have yet to get to. So, thanks again for reading!)


	3. Chapter 3: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 3: After- The Power of the White Fang

Erik preferred to wake up with the sound of his alarm clock. It rang with the sound of birds, reminding him of the natural world. It gave him a renewed confidence each morning to continue the mission Adam had given him. Indeed, without it, he would forget the meaning of working with such lowly human bandits, and the higher causes for which he endeavored.

So waking up to the feeling of being launched out of his tent into the neighboring wall wasn't his style.

Unfortunately, he'd have to deal with it.

From his foggy mental state, Erik could feel something hard and metallic grabbing his leg. Even as his bruised back was against the wall, he could still feel it holding on. He could also feel his bangs lean upwards, which made him wonder how gravity had changed so oddly. Once his eyesight cleared up however, he found that it was, in fact, he who had changed. He was held upside down by the metal snake-like entity whose tail was being held by a young man in an oddly shaped sweater. The man approached Erik, shortening his metal limb as he grew closer, though somewhat beaconing the thing to latch onto Erik's leg more tightly. At this close of a distance, Erik also noticed that, while he had many holes in his sweater with somewhat fresh blood, the man's skin looked abnormally untouched. Once he made it face to face with Erik, the attacker bent down to eye level with the upside-down faunus.

"Hi, friend. I want to know a few things," he spoke with a raspy voice. A strange, almost friendly smile grew on his face, giving Erik chills.

The faunus regained his composure and replied by spitting on the man's foot. The faunus had no desire to help a human, even if it meant torture. In response, the human, despite his smile, tightened his metal scarf's grip on Erik's leg. Erik grunted as the blood flow in his leg slowed down and his foot became numb.

"Okay, fine then. Let me just go ahead and ask. Where's Ada-"

In her typical burst of speed, Elene punched the man's right kidney so hard, he flew twenty feet and lost his grip on Erik. The darkened blur crashed into the empty tents near the center of the camp and some tents even broke free from the stakes that kept them situated and effortlessly floated away into the wind.

"Are you okay?" she asked in her monotone voice as she helped lift Erik to his feet and gave him his own weapon: A bow and magnetic arrow combo that doubled as a double-bladed sword. Elene took out her own giant axe/missile launcher combo and readied herself in preparation for the recovering man. Erik caught his breath and did the same.

Immediately, the attacker jumped out of the mesh of polyester tent remains, landing a good twenty feet away from the two faunus. He steadied himself and took out his own two blades he kept sheathed: one bronze-colored, leaf-shaped blade, another single-edged, straight iron sword. Both parties stood still, waiting for the other to start attacking. The only sound that perpetuated was the quite breeze, accompanied by the small crackles of the torch nearby. Erik could feel a bead of sweat trickle down his brow, but tried his best to focus instead on the matter at hand. After all, only a split-second could result in death.

Then suddenly, it began. Like a serpent jumping out of its burrow, the same cloth that grabbed Erik shot out of the hunter's right sleeve and attempted to grab Elene's horse leg. However, her semblance made surprise attacks impossible, and she jumped to her side opposite of Erik. Erik, in response, dashed towards the hunter, who had a look of surprise on his face. The hunter brought up his blades, and both the men's swords clashed like thunder. They stood there in a battle of strength, holding each other's weapons at bay, yet Erik could tell he was already losing.

_This guy's strong!_ He marveled, but he didn't let such a distraction stop him, otherwise his true purpose wouldn't come through. Elene had already gotten behind, and raised her axe in attack. The hunter was not so ignorant as to not have noticed her tactic, but his blades were locked in place as Erik quickly shifted his duel blade behind his opponent's swords. Not only did the duel blade had a curved nature to it, but when converted to bow mode, the weapon's center kept anything metallic from leaving without Erik's consent. It wouldn't completely stop the hunter, no, but it would delay his movements long enough for Elene to finish him off.

Yet, as Elene raised her axe in the air and the hunter tried to take his swords out from the bow, Erik couldn't help but feel a tug on his own left leg. Erik saw a smirk on the hunter's face, far different from the friendly smile he had before, and the feeling changed from a tug to a powerful pull, forcing Erik off his feet as the hunter let go of his own blades. The hunter then moved to the side in order to dodge the vertical slash made by Elene, and countered with his own punch. Elene's semblance, again, gave her warning. She quickly dodged away from the attack and changed her weapon's form to a missile launcher. She made eye contact with Erik, and instantly, he understood her next move.

Erik took his own weapon and, after shooting the hunter's swords through the magnetic epicenter of the bow out of sight, took out his arrow. The hunter kept his focus on Elene, and the faunus could feel the metal limb tighten its grip on Erik's leg once again. He knew the hunter was prepared to put Erik between him and Elene, but that was exactly what he needed. In a flash, Erik shot the arrow through the center of the bow and shot the arm that held onto the metal cloth. The hunter, grunting in pain, let go, and its grip on the leg loosened, giving his captive a chance to jump out of the way.

"Now!" Erik's call prompted Elene to fire her missile launcher. The hunter looked up and attempted to jump out of the way, but it was fruitless: Erik raised his bow up and the magnets of the arrow pulled the man back into the missile's path. The hunter changed his plan, attempting to grab the missile with his scarf and pull it down, but it was far too late: the missile exploded at his feet. Erik covered his face at the barrage of shrapnel, but fortunately none managed to hit him. Soon, there was only a large amount of smoke in place of their attacker, and Erik couldn't help but laugh at the close call while pulling back his magnetic arrow from the dark smoke. However, the entire fight had been decided easily. No matter how strong one hunter was, he was no match for the White Fang.

* * *

_Pain. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. _Soul couldn't determine whether it was his voice or not, but he could easily agree with it. Though he misdirected the missile, shrapnel still struck him everywhere, the fire burnt his skin beyond what he could bear, and he could feel one of his arms held together by only a piece of muscle. It truly was the worst pain he had experienced yet.

_That last guy with the revolver was one thing, but this is another. _The other voice sighed and spoke. _Honestly, where would you be without me and my semblance?_

Then, Soul felt it. The skin that had nearly burnt off slowly regrew itself. The shrapnel that struck him all over was somehow pushed out by the arrival of new skin, muscle, and organ tissue. Any bone that broke quickly put itself back into place and started its slightly longer process of healing. The muscle of his arm, though it would take a much longer time to fully heal, already gave him partial control over it again. Truly, this process was painful in its own rite, but it got Soul back into the action.

_Good thing you pushed that out of the way, otherwise we'd actually be dead. Now be careful! We probably can't heal like that again. _The voice chuckled.

Soul joined it. Maybe it was in order to cope with the massive pain he had just felt or the disbelief at how he had survived and the crazy strength that was the voice's semblance, but Soul couldn't stop snickering to himself. He shot his scarf out of the smoke and grabbed his swords, which had landed only ten or so feet away.

"Time for round two."

* * *

Laughter erupted from the smoke.

Laughter.

Elene had already come to Erik's side when the remains of the area Elene decimated laughed. Next, the metallic serpent-like weapon the hunter used jumped out and grabbed the two swords on the ground.

"Elene," Erik said, getting himself in a ready position, "Don't blink." Erik could already see what would happen: the hunter, with his vast range, would try to grab one of the two again. When that happened, once again, he would keep the hunter from running while his partner finished off the hunter, this time completely. With just a strike from his blade, Erik could tell the pattern his opponent would take. People claimed it was his semblance, but they couldn't be further from the truth: his semblance only let him think faster, not predict everything. The rest was only through his own intelligence.

Yet, in this moment, his prediction couldn't be further from the truth.

A much larger object came out of the smoke towards the two faunus: the hunter himself. His smile corrupted like a grimm, his skin dyed with dried blood, and his cloths half burnt off, the hunter brought his swords down on Elene and Erik the instant he reached them. The two hardly had a moment to even block the respective blades, which sent both of them sliding back a few feet. But it was far from over yet. The hunter immediately came up again, this time towards Erik. He slashed and slashed against Erik's duel blade, yet he never kept his swords held against them like before. After each strike, the blades would rebound back almost immediately, keeping Erik from holding him in place. However, his focus was completely on Erik, giving Elene a chance to move around. She jumped to her left and…

The hunter switched to Elene without pause. She became wide-eyed when the hunter matched her movements, and even more so when he whipped his blades toward her. She was indeed fast, but that didn't account for when she wielded her axe. Elene had told Erik that her speed would compensate for using such a heavy weapon, but in this moment, Erik could tell she was regretting that decision. Before Erik could even reach them, flurries of blades struck around Elene, giving her several small cuts, but she at least managed to block the more fatal ones. By the time Erik got to their position, however, the hunter, like a switch, turned back on Erik and continued his quick attacks. Compared to Elene, he was a much better duelist, but even against this hunter, with his quick speed and strong strikes, Erik struggled quite a bit. He could manage to throw a few of his own hits, but he was forced to stay on the defensive for the most part. Indeed, in this exchange, Erik could tell the hunter did not have as much skill as himself, but the real trouble for Erik was the hunter's unpredictability. His miraculous healing after the missile seemed to change him, and now he kept an onslaught going that didn't seem to slow down.

But that was just what Erik wanted.

The hunter knew when either of the faunus moved but he couldn't tell specific movements, and his wild, almost desperate attacks proved this. Perhaps the hunter deemed Elene not a threat when she stayed in one position, or believed he hit something vital on her, but the hunter's focus remained completely on Erik, giving Elene a wide opening. Erik backed up slowly, leading the hunter further and further away from Elene. When they made it a good distance, the two launched their plan. Elene switched her weapon to launcher mode and nodded to Erik who, while he had to keep himself protected from the assault, could clearly see her signal. She raised her hand to count.

_ Three. _Erik moved onto the attack, raising both his sword and his arrow against the opponent. Sure, he was forced to take a few strikes in the process, but it gave him the chance he needed. He may not be able to predict unpredictability, but the faunus could instead bait the attack he wanted from the hunter.

_Two._ The hunter, seeing potential weak spots in Erik's stance, raised his swords in a predictable manner and brought them proceeded to block both blades with his duel blade, then stabbed the hunter in the arm with his arrow in one graceful movement. Such a wound not only kept him from moving, but also caught the flexible metallic weapon he kept in his sleeve.

_One._ Both faunus jumped in opposite directions as Elene fired her launcher once more. Erik kept the target from moving, restarting the previous attack. Once again, this attack would start up again, but now, there was no way he could escape. The hunter had finally lost.

Of course, the hunter was anything but predictable.

* * *

_Seriously? You fell into the same trap again_! The voice exclaimed as Soul looked down the cannon of the launcher. Soul could feel his aura getting lower, which meant that he probably couldn't heal any more large wounds like before. The missile would hit them again, and this time, it would mean death. He tried to jump out of the planned path of the missile, but the arrow in his arm somehow managed to keep him locked down. Any move would shoot him back into the opposite direction, towards the inevitable missile.

The voice remained quiet, but Soul could tell she was still there. They both knew that in his haste, he sentenced them to a fiery execution. It seems now that his mission had come to an end. Soul felt disappointment in himself, but the prospect of seeing his friends again made the event a little less nerve-wracking. He could finally show them how strong he had gotten. He could finally…

"No!" Soul still had a mission, and he couldn't die before it was finished. Just as the missile started flying at them, he came up with his options: His scarf, while it was stuck on the arrow in his arm, could be moved to his other arm with his static semblance. However, that didn't erase the fact it was still trapped by the arrow, and it would take far too long to transfer over. By the time he could shoot it out of his sleeve, the missile would have already hit Soul.

So, his mind focused on the arrow instead of the missile. While he could rip it out like before, it would, again, take far too long, enabling the explosion to engulf him. His own semblance could possibly disable the arrow's ability… had he thought of it. No, Soul's instincts turned to the arrowhead, where he could feel the pull come from. Anytime he moved, the arrowhead stayed in one place, and moved accordingly to make sure Soul stayed put. So, Soul instead looked at the length of the arrow, which widened as it reached the end of its tail, and knew what needed to be done. It would hurt horribly, and this time it wouldn't heal, but it would be better than dying to the missile.

Thus, he curled his other hand into a fist and jumped. When he felt the arrow tug him back into place, he knew it was time. Soul gritted his teeth and bashed his knuckles into the arrow's flat tail. The strength of his punch, mixed with the pull of the arrow's head, loosened the projectile out of his skin, out through his entire arm. The young man nearly screamed in pain while the arrow's entire body found its way out the top of his forearm, but he couldn't let himself get distracted. He turned to the horse faunus with the launcher and dashed, slightly grazing the missile that should have hit him.

"This is the final round."

* * *

Erik was positively flabbergasted when he saw the arrow, bloodied, launch all the way back to his feet, just before the missile crashed into where the hunter should have been. He was even more confounded when he saw the hunter, forearm with a hole in it, charging towards Elene after passing by the missile. The hunter, once within a few feet, jumped over Elene, then using the side of the cabin as a footstool, pounced towards her back. Quickly, she rolled forward out of the way, turned around, and jumped backwards to the area Erik stood.

"What is this guy?"

"Focus on the enemy, Erik. Look," Elene responded, weapon changed back into ax form. She pointed to the hunter, who got back into a fighting position. Rather than having his two swords out, however, the hunter held his leaf sword in his left hand while hanging his wounded arm down the side of the body.

Erik looked at the arrow he picked up, which was stained with blood from top to bottom. "The creep actually forced the entire thing out his arm, huh?"

Of course, the arrowhead was what kept him from moving, so if he punched the arrow's tail, the arrow would come out with no issue. It would rip out a lot of muscle, scrape the bone, and bleed a lot, but it would make the arrow come loose. Erik felt impressed at the man's determination, but that didn't mean he and Elene resigned to loss. As a matter of fact, the wound proved that the hunter couldn't heal anymore for some odd reason. He still stood there with his right arm as limp as jelly while blood dripped down his middle finger. The hunter now became easy prey.

"Let's go, Elene." The two dashed, taking the initiative against the hunter.

The hunter dashed forward in response, one sword in his left hand while the other was held by his scarf.

"What?" Erik said out loud as the scarf wildly whipped the second sword towards him. He managed to block it, but it stopped his movement and held him back while the hunter fought Elene with his good hand. Indeed, he was a bit slower, but he still exceeded the speed of Elene's heavy ax. Anytime Elene would swing her weapon against him, the hunter would quickly dodge and counter with his own slash, giving his opponent a few extra nasty cuts. The axe would swing over him, indicating for the hunter to dodge under and slash upwards. The axe would swing vertically, telling the hunter to shift to his left and stab forwards. Though wounded, the man still exhibited the ferocity that started with the first missile, and good agility to complement it.

On Erik's side, he fought his ghost opponent, the scarf holding the second sword. While it was easy to hit away, the scarf always bounced back in some irregular way. Erik would block and send the sword flying ten feet away, and the scarf would whip back, forcing Erik to block again. It had no way of hitting Erik correctly- after all, it was only controlled by the hunter, who had his focus set on Elene- but it still provided an inconvenience in getting closer to the two fighting. He tried to go for the scarf, which held the sword, but it was like striking clothes in the wind: it wouldn't rip, only catch itself on the weapon. Directly after that, the scarf would revert back to whisking about in the air, aimlessly attempting to incapacitate Erik.

"I've had enough of this!" Once he blocked the sword regularly and let it fly backwards, Erik positioned himself for the next whip. He slowed down time, him included, and managed to determine where the sword would move next. Then, right when the scarf-sword combo came back, Erik slammed the side of his double-sword against it. This time, the weapon didn't just pitter back for a small time, but instead rushed back towards the hunter, giving Erik a chance to move forward and help Elene.

The hunter smiled, as if he predicted this. What was once an uncontrollable projectile soon morphed out of its chaos and speed towards Elene's back using the speed Erik's collision gave it. The scarf pointed the sword perfectly towards Elene as it increased in speed, far faster than what Erik could run.

Yet, Erik grinned too.

Elene's semblance sensed any potential danger, which cautioned her to jump when the sword was far enough. She let go of her weapon to give her the speed she needed, and glided upwards with a backflip that almost defied gravity. The straight blade successfully came under her and ungracefully impacted itself into the cabin. The hunter's surprise attack had failed.

Yet, as Erik realized he should have learned, the hunter was unpredictable. Even in his wounded form, he could throw far faster than one would expect. The hunter took the sword he held and spiraled it through the wind. Elene could definitely sense it, but in the air she was vulnerable. She had no way of dodging, and with her back to the hunter, neither did she have a way of blocking. The leaf sword impaled itself into Elene's right shoulder blade, causing her to go limp. She had enough consciousness to land on her feet, but as soon as she got to the ground, she fell down on her side, trying to breathe and work out the shock that came with the wound.

Erik forgot everything. He forgot the pain of some of his small wounds. He forgot the mission the White Fang sent him to do. He forgot about his arrow. All he felt was anger for the pain that was inflicted on his friend. He ran in a frenzy towards the hunter with a loud battle-cry. He would pay back for what had happened to Erik's friend.

Unfortunately, he forgot about the scarf-sword. While Erik was in his vulnerable dashing position, the hunter commanded the scarf to pull itself out of the cabin, sending itself past him and into the wild faunus' leg. Pain spread throughout his lower body and Erik could hardly contain the scream that came out of his mouth. His sprint now receded into a slow crawl as he fell on his knees, trying now to get to Elene and protect her. The hunter, however, was far quicker. He pulled the blade out of Erik's leg, and brought it back to his good arm.

Erik, witnessing these events, had to ask himself: Was this man even a hunter? No, he was a grimm in human form. Only hatred seemed to exist where a heart once stood. The friendly smile he showed to Erik earlier was only a mask. And now, that mask was off.

Erik got up to his knees, but the pain of his damage kept him from rising any higher. He became helpless as the hunter held his sword down on Elene's neck.

He spoke again, back in his old friendly voice, as if he put the mask back on. "So, friend, I want some answers. You're going to give me them."

Erik, stunned and shocked from the events that had unfolded, remained speechless. The hunter, after waiting for a response, impatiently put pressure on the leaf sword stuck in Elene's back, causing her to scream in her half-conscious stupor. Finally, Erik closed his eyes and spoke.

"Enough! I'll help you, okay? Just let her go, please."

The hunter smiled and did so. "Good choice."

* * *

Aaron woke up to the sight of a large pile of baggage sitting where their fire once stood. He also seemed to be the last to wake up, because Judith and Cyrus were pulling bags from the pile that looked eerily like their own. At the other end of the campsite stood Soul, leaning against a dying, leafless tree while eating a banana. He had the same friendly smile on as the one he had last night before leaving, but now his clothes were completely torn up and his black hair was a tangled mess. His sweater was off, replaced with a soft, polyester compression shirt, with his scarf resting on his shoulders.

"Glad to see you're finally up. I'm afraid I don't have breakfast for you guys, but I'm sure your own food will suffice." The hunter signaled Aaron to get up and look through the pile of backpacks and bags of various qualities and sizes. He could probably count around twenty bags or so, shaped in a pyramid that reached around hip height. Then, like a beacon in the night, a bag identical to his stolen one peaked through and enticed him to get a closer look at it. It was then that he understood.

"You got our bags for us. How?"

Soul kept smiling while he threw the banana peel into the bushes behind the tree. "I just had a little 'chat' with the bandits. In return for my enjoyable company, they gave me their stolen goods, which seemed to count your bags as well."

Suddenly, it all clicked in Aaron's head as he took a second look over Soul's ripped clothes. He also noticed that on Soul's right forearm was a large bandage with a lot of dried blood. "Soul, you really shouldn't have done this…"

Soul walked towards the pile and looked through the bags himself, with no real aim for what he hoped to find. "No, it's fine. A hunter is supposed to help those in trouble, right?"

Aaron responded, "No, we put you in danger. I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine, Aaron. Really, the bandits were no trouble. They had some White Fang, but they were no difficulty for me."

Aaron looked at his friends, the shortest of which simply shrugged once they made eye-contact, only to return to his inspection of all his items. He sighed at his friends' nonchalant attitude for their savior. "Okay, okay. Thank you for helping us, Soul."

Soul looked up from the pile and nodded. "Your village is down south, right?" He changed topics, "I may follow you guys for a bit since I have some business down there."

Aaron raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What kind of business do you have in a small village like ours?"

"A little more south, actually. I'm planning on going to the docks."

Aaron's heart lightened at the protection of a hunter. After his experience with bandits and grimm on the road, he would have no issue accepting more help from Soul. Once Aaron found his backpack, he picked it up and put it on.

Soul kept smiling throughout the three's preparations. Aaron found it a little unsettling how much he smiled, but it mostly comforted him and his friends nonetheless. Once they had all finished checking their packs, Soul spoke up, "Right. Well then, let's go, shall we?"

Soul and Aaron walked side to side towards the main dirt road, and Cyrus and Judith follow suit. Judith was finally the next person to speak since the start of the day. "How did you deal with those bandits?"

"Oh, them? I just handcuffed them and alerted a few other hunters. They'll be taken care of in due time."

Cyrus spoke in adoration, "Wow! I knew you could do it! You hunters are so cool!"

Soul nodded, but for a small moment, there was a hint of a strange look on his face. Perhaps guilt? Aaron felt concerned at the way his expression changed. "You okay, Soul?"

The hunter turned towards his friend. "Of course! I get to walk with you all, which makes the journey much nicer!" Yet, Soul's face darkened abruptly. "And don't worry about the bandits. I only did what was necessary."

* * *

Erik stumbled through the pine trees, his hand on the makeshift bandage that covered the wound caused by the sword. The pain grew ever fiercer, yet it was the only thing that kept him moving, that brought him back to the present when he was pulled back to the attack.

_"Good choice,"_ the hunter had said back then, his sword pointed towards the sky, away from Elene. "_Now then, where is Adam?"_

The pain rushed back into Erik, and he continued walking through the bushy forest. He had determined where the closest White Fang camp was at, and moved in its general direction. Yet, he moved without purpose, his stare blank from trauma.

"_He's in Atlas," Erik had responded, "in the capital city." In truth, he had no idea of the whereabouts of Adam. He only spoke in an effort to save Elene and throw off the hunter._

The pain hit him again, and made him want very badly to relax in the shade of one of these trees, yet he knew that once he stopped, he wouldn't be able to get himself up. Burdened by the pain and the memories, he would sit in agony, both mentally and physically. So, he continued, letting the throbbing stop his thoughts whenever they hit, even if they didn't keep him from remembering the past night's events.

_Like a guillotine, the hunter brought down his sword on Elene's neck. Not hard enough to cut the head off, but just enough to strike open her major veins. _

_ "No!" Even with the arrow's debilitation, Erik crawled over to Elene, who was now choking on her own blood._

_ "I know when you're lying, faunus. Tell me where Adam truly is, or-"_

_ "I don't know," Erik blurted out, voice cracking. "I don't know! I heard someone higher up say something about Menagerie but that's all I know!"_

_ The hunter sheathed his sword, took the other out of the dying Elene, and walked past the burning cabin towards the gate._

The pain struck Erik and finally brought him to a halt. He fell to his knees and grabbed the grass, trying to get his pain and thoughts under control, but he could do neither. He tried dreadfully hard, punching the ground and yelling, but his mind only returned to the hunter and his awful destruction. The bandits deserved none of the torture they received. The bandits were indeed human, but at least they were willing to work alongside faunus. And yet, they had limbs broken and eyes pierced. Some even shared the same fate as Elene.

"Elene…"

And then there was her. The hunter murdered her in cold blood, in front of her partner, her friend. No longer would the two talk or have fun together. No longer would they have fun training together, or no longer would Erik give annoying pointers to Elene. Elene was gone and that was all there was to it.

Erik kept punching the ground in order to change his painful feelings. The feelings he had for his friend, the feeling he had for his business associates, it all crushed his heart like a constricting snake. Nothing could mend his sadness.

Except one thing.

The hunter. Erik thought of the hunter with a deep anger and hatred, stronger than he had ever felt for any human. Soon the sadness was replaced with wrath and a desire for justice. Erik smiled as he knew what his next goal would be: revenge. He'd recover, and once he was able, he'd find and kill the hunter. He used that feeling to push himself off the ground and started walking again, this time with more motive. He would kill the hunter, and deal back the pain that had been given to him, far greater than before. So, Erik continued towards the White Fang camp with a new, dreadful goal.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! If you got here, then thanks for reading the third chapter of _RWBY: Revenant!_ If you can provide some constructive criticism, I would gladly appreciate it! I would love nothing more than to get better at writing. Similarly, if you enjoyed _Revenant _so far, why don't you stick around for some more chapters? There are so many things I would love to do with this fan fiction, but I've barely even scratched the surface! So, again, thanks for reading!)


	4. Chapter 4: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 4: Before – The First Test

Liu stretched his arms as he followed the crowd towards the trial grounds. Once he and Sagitari entered the gym yesterday, she had easily spotted her friends and gave back the luggage. As quickly as she arrived, Sagitari disappeared into the crowded gym, never to be seen by Liu since. So, as quickly as she left, Liu forgot her promise, and his general anxiety about the whole ordeal settled back into his heart. He desperately wanted to leave the school, maybe escape into the wilderness, but the words of Ozpin stuck to him. _Be the hunter you want to be_. It was strange, but the words gave him just enough courage to stay for the trial. So, he stretched to alieve the worry in his gut, which unfortunately didn't help much.

Eventually, the crowd assembled into a half circle around a cliff side, overlooking a large, green forest. In the distance, Liu could see a few ruins peak out of the tree tops. In the center of their half circle stood headmaster Ozpin next to a blond older-looking lady with glasses. Ozpin simply clapped to gain everyone's attention.

"Hello, everyone! I hope your night in the gymnasium proved well enough, because today we will have a test. If we can get a few students to stand on these devices, please?" Ozpin signaled towards the grey squares that were lined up in front of the cliff. Almost immediately, a black-haired short girl with a rose insignia on her belt jumped on one of them, followed by a blond girl with very long hair and yellow, metallic gauntlets. Slowly, a group of students filed in until all the squares were taken. Ozpin, however, grabbed the student on the furthest end of the line and asked him to get off, taking the student by surprise. He consented, though, and walked back into the crowd.

Ozpin then turned towards the group and asked, "Jaune, would you be so inclined as to volunteer for this first group?"

At the end of Ozpin's line of vision stood a somewhat tall, but very scared blond boy. He looked around, then slowly walked over to the vacant square. Still standing, he shook in his boots, garnering a few laughs from the crowd, though Ozpin's stare hushed all of them. Liu couldn't help but empathize with the boy.

Now that everyone was settled, Ozpin finally started his instructions. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

The teacher next to Ozpin continued, "I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Liu's eyes widened at the mention of teams. He had slowly come to realize how much he was unprepared for going to Beacon. However, if the team didn't involve Ursus or that faunus girl, then he'd be fine. It'd be even better if he was with Sagitari.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon," Ozpin said, "So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Ozpin's instructions continued as Liu's mind reeled in fear of what could happen. What if he was paired with Ursus? What if it was that one faunus?! What if it was someone who was just as incompetent as he?! Liu scratched his head in frustration, unsure what to do. It was in this moment that he felt a somewhat heavy tap on his back. His mind, for a second, pushed the fear away as he expected Sagitari to arrive from behind. She was a strange girl, but she was also the friendliest to Liu.

Instead, he found Ursus.

Liu nearly yelped when he saw the monolith of a student towering behind him, face unexpressive. The guy wore different clothing from yesterday, this time wearing a much more battle-oriented outfit. There was quite a bit of armor on his person, and attached to his back was a massive spear. In this clothing, he looked much more like a hunter. At least more than Liu himself.

"O-oh, hey Ursus. Are you doing well?" Liu couldn't help but feel threatened by the presence of this quiet giant. Ursus responded with a simple nod. He came up to Liu's side, and Liu, without any sort of response, let him. They both awkwardly stood there in silence while Ozpin continued explaining the trial's goal.

"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top-" Another finger found itself onto Liu's shoulder. He turned, hoping to find Sagitari, his only hope in this nightmarish test he had to threaten his life over. She was a strange girl, but she had promised to help him.

Instead, he found the faunus girl from yesterday.

Liu nearly jumped when he came eye to eye with her irritated snake-eyes. Unlike Ursus, she wore similar clothes to yesterday, though they were a bit more set for fighting: her jeans were now jorts, and her shorter hair was tied back into a bun.

She spoke harshly and shook Liu out of his stupor. "Hey, Loon."

"It's Liu."

"Whatever. My friend was looking for you."

Liu raised his eyebrow. "Friend?"

He didn't remember meeting anyone out the three he met yesterday. Coincidentally, Sagitari came out of the crowd, wearing the exact same clothing as yesterday. "Sheesh," she spoke, "You didn't have to make a fuss!"

The faunus girl responded, "It's not my fault I could sense him faster than you could look around. I'm a faunus, Tari!"  
Sagitari huffed in a cute sort of way. "Well, I bet I wouldn't have needed your help in the first place!"

The argument was quieted down by the choir of shushes that erupted from their general area, directed towards the two. "H-hey, Sagitari…"

Sagitari immediately looked at him and smiled warmly. "I'm so glad I found you! I tried to get you after I found her, but I lost where you were!"

Liu looked at both girls just before the wires in his brain connected. "Oh! So you're Sagitari's friend?" Liu asked the second girl.

She rolled her eyes, then turned to Ursus. "Hey, big guy. You with this loser?"

Before Ursus could respond, a yell resonated from the last square, causing the four to turn back towards the cliff to find all the students gone. That was when Liu's heartrate reached a height he believed originally impossible: he would be launched into the air. It was just his luck, then, that he and the three others were chosen to be a part of the next launch, as determined by Ozpin's motioning towards them. While the other three were quick to move, however, Liu was unable to even take a step towards the launch pads. He just stared, his fear sticking him in place as laughter and chiding grew behind him.

Before she got on, Sagitari seemed to notice his hesitation. Without as much as a sigh, she ran back over to Liu and grabbed his shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Liu tried to shake himself into responding, but he couldn't even make anything come out. Sagitari then placed her other hand on his other shoulder and closed her eyes. It was then that Liu felt good. Really good. Of course, the fear still existed in his heart, but he actually managed to move his feet. He pushed them towards the final launch pad next to Sagitari's and stood in place. In an instant, however, the confidence faded, and Liu's old fears returned. He stood in place, though this time, it at least had a use.

_*Sproing*_

The launch pads started, shooting the students into the air. Ursus took the first launch pad, so he was the first to go. Next came the faunus girl, after a few extra students who stood between her and Ursus.

_*Sproing* _

Finally, Sagitari went, blasting off into the depths of the Emerald Forest. Panic finally surged in Liu. He couldn't take the things going on around him. Sure, maybe Sagitari or Ursus could do it, but Liu was a weakling who got into Beacon on his writing test alone. He nearly jumped off the launch pad until Ozpin spoke up. "Worry not, Liu. Remember your goal."

The launch pad sprung up instantaneously and sent Liu into the trees below.

* * *

The next thing Liu saw when he woke up were rather surprised upside-down viper eyes.

Then rather angry upside-down viper eyes.

"Seriously?! You wake up when I take a look at you?" The eyes moved a distance away.

When he fully came to, Liu realized it was not the world that was upside-down, but himself. He hung from rather low branches that caught his fall, thankfully, though he could still feel some pain from the landing sequence. He also soon came to realize that the snake-eyes he saw were not an actual snake's, but were in fact the faunus girl's from yesterday. She paced left and right in annoyance, as if she was the one who suffered. Not too patient, she walked back up to Liu in his upside-down form and spoke as loudly as possible into his ear. "Hey! Wake up! We have a test to do!"

Liu rubbed his hurting ear, but tried to comply with the request. Looking down, or rather up, he found his feet tangled up in the branches, which seemed to fully catch his fall. He tried to reach up, but to no avail, as a general lack of exercise restricted him. He tried to shake his feet out, but only succeeded in getting himself more tangled up in the tree's vines, branches, and leaves. Liu had no choice. He waved his hands towards the faunus girl and got her attention.

"Hey! Can you help me?"

The faunus girl stood there for a while, perhaps satisfied with Liu's misfortune, then sighed and came up. She took her weapons out from her back sheath, which consisted of two short, steel batons, and raised them towards the imprisoning branches. Her process of taking Liu from the tree included shaking the branches, while adding in the occasional, and purposeful, whack on his shin. It took a minute, but eventually the branch cracked and Liu fell, sprawled on the green ground. Praying the leaves he touched weren't poison ivy, Liu arose again to the irritated snake eyes that seemed to judge him. With a small examination to make sure he was fine, she turn back around and started walking.

"Come on," she spoke coldly, "Let's go."

Liu trotted up to her side. "Thanks for helping me out."

The faunus ignored him.

Liu, though thankful for her help, was started to get annoyed at her shunning him. "Hey, do you really want a partner like me?"

"Of course not."

Liu raised an eyebrow "Then why help me back there, as well as stay with me? You could have left me alone for someone else to find."

"Because those are the rules." The girl kept looking forward as they walked.

_She's almost as quiet as Ursus when she wants to be,_ Liu thought.

He sighed. If they were going to be partner for the rest of the year, then they had to get things straight. "Look, I'm sorry for staring at you yesterday. I was just simply flabbergasted at everything that's going on, so I wasn't thinking right. Can we at least start over?"

The girl remained silent and continued her quick pace.

Again, Liu sighed. He got in front of the faunus to make her stop. "Fine, I'll start. My name is Liu Xiu, from Mistral." He raised out his hand. "What's your name?"

The faunus, thought initially very aggravated at Liu's insistence, soon closed her eyes and sighed. Then, she finally spoke, "Ophiucha."

"Huh?"

The girl's sincerity was replaced with her usual grumpy nature as she opened her serpent-slit eyes. "My name is Ophiucha, okay?" She grabbed Liu's outstretched hand and quickly shook it. "I hate dealing with you humans, seriously. Just… I dunno, just follow me or something!" Ophiucha thus continued past her confused partner towards the ruined temple, the goal they were meant to move towards.

"Hey, wait up!" Liu yelled as he jolted back to her side.

* * *

"Pretty interesting that we got paired up, huh?" Sagitari asked while walking with Ursus towards the ruins.

Ursus nodded. He had trouble with words. Not that he couldn't speak them, he just didn't know what to say most of the time. He'd often say what came to mind in the past, which would often result badly for him. Once he brother told him to stop talking, however, he took that to heart and actually did stop talking, only saying one or two word responses. Because of that, he often came off as apathetic, or even threatening. It was much better than before, though. But this girl, Sagitari, didn't seem to mind him, which made him look forward to the coming years. Finally, someone who doesn't mind him or his silence.

"Hey, Ursus, do you see that?" she asked as they came up to the edge of the forest. At the end of the clearing stood a small ruin with its front wall completely demolished. Inside of the small half-circle created by its back stonewalls were several platforms of chess pieces. Some were taken, but there were still several in place, waiting to be taken.

"So what? Do we need to take these chess pieces or something?" Sagitari continued walking towards the relics, but something caught Ursus' eye and made him stop. He turned to find a cave inside a small cliff not too far away. Just outside of the opening was a small set of daggers, perhaps handled by a student. Ursus walked closer to investigate, attracting the interest of Sagitari, who stopped her original path and followed behind.

She took a look from behind. "Huh, a dagger. Strange that someone left that here."

_No, _Ursus thought, _they didn't leave this here intentionally. _He crouched down and examined the weapon, finding the gears that activated its secondary form. From that, he could tell that it definitely came from a hunter, but today of all days? No, it was definitely a student's. Ursus looked up towards the cave, a deep darkness that perpetuated inside of the rocks. Yet, he could see the glimmer of a pair of large, red eyes inside of it. Suddenly, a low growl rumbled from the same direction.

_Oh no,_ Ursus thought.

* * *

The two had walked in complete silence for twenty minutes. Sure, Liu had tried to start a few conversations, but all of his attempts proved fruitless. Ophiucha would always say a word or two, then put a stop to their chat. Eventually, he found shutting his mouth and walking awkwardly with Ophiucha was the best option. The girl seemed to provide no other emotion than annoyance thus far, so keeping quiet prevented that from revealing itself.

The only thing that remained constant between the two, other than the predominant sense of social discomfort, was the quick pace that Ophiucha set for both of them, which Liu could barely keep up with. _Seriously, is this girl actually a cheetah Faunus or something? _Liu thought to himself. Yet, he managed. At the very least, this showed him that he needed to start exercising, an activity he'd avoided despite the area of interest he was delving into.

The approach to their destination was stopped by a loud rumble that shook the ground they stood on. Both of the partners stood in their tracks and looked around, with Ophiucha taking a stance behind Liu.

"What was-" Liu's question was cut short by a second rumble, this time louder and heavier. He lost his balance and fell, though Orphiucha still held her ground. A third rumble followed. Then a fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Every single shake grew in size and strength. The rumble shook Liu to his very core, and his mind turned to worst case scenarios. He realized that he shouldn't be at this school. That he only passed through the written exam and through the connection that his father had with Ozpin. He stood back up and positioned himself to run out of the forest.

Then it happened.

Out from the trees burst forth a large tiger-like grimm, with Ursus and Sagitari holding onto its fur for dear life. The grimm proceeded to leap from side to side, trying violently to throw the two off its hide. However, this final jump was too much and both of them were launched into the direction of Liu and Orphiucha. Ophiucha was lucky and got out of the way. Liu was not. The weight of two people slammed into him and nearly developed a crater as they pushed the boy into the ground.

"Sorry!" Sagitari was the first to jump up, followed up Ursus, who picked up a broken Liu. "Ah, are you okay?" Sagitari continued.

"I… I'm fine, I think," Liu mumbled despite his light-headedness. He felt a little dizzy and almost fell if it wasn't for Sagitari coming over to give him a shoulder. Ursus stood in between the two and the tiger grimm who eyed the group murderously. The hunter-in-training took his giant lance out from his back sheath which, when extended, easily reached eight feet.

From behind came Orphiucha, who eyed Sagitari with concerning eyes, the only emotion Liu had seen from her other than irritation. "Tari! I can't believe you guys were so dumb to fight a grimm!"

"We didn't try to! It came out of nowhere!"

"Yeah? Well, I bet you attracted it with your loud voice."

"That didn't happen! It-"

The tiger grimm roared in anger. It would not stand for the group ignoring its presence. The grimm was probably about twenty-feet long, and without standing, towered even above Ursus. Like usual, it had the white mask-like outer skull as most grimm, and its sharp claws truly intimidated Liu.

Sagitari, sensing Liu was fine now, let go of him and reached into her pockets. "Guess we can't run, huh?"

From her pockets came two brass knuckles, which she fitted into her fists. Orphiucha followed and brought her two batons out, this time glowing a stark red and blue respectively. Liu was the last to follow, taking his leaf-shaped sword out of his own sheath and raising it towards the grimm.

Sagitari made sure everyone was ready, then pointed towards the angry grimm. "Let's go."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for giving this chapter of _RWBY: Revenant_ a read! If you liked it, why don't you stick around for the next few? Another thing you could do if you want is give me some constructive criticism. I've always wanted to be an author, and I felt fan fiction was the best place to start. So, if you can help me get better at writing, I would gladly appreciate it! And again, thanks for reading!)


	5. Chapter 5: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 5: After – The Ship

Soul found himself in the typical domed greenhouse with the sun shining through the windows. He stood at the circular edge of the place, examining the large diaspora of flowers that grew in the dome. Each eighth of the greenhouse had its own classifications, indicating where they were from. One eighth had desert plants, another had plants that could only grow in Vale, and so on. They were pleasantly beautiful, and gave Soul a small moment of reprise in the path he tread. Between each eighth lay a cobblestone pathway that led towards the central circle, a smaller but proportionally accurate shape to the dome.

Soul walked down the closest path towards the center and found his partner sitting on a wooden chair next to a table, reading an unnamed book with one hand while sipping coffee. The woman's long, black hair flowed behind the back of the chair, and her blue eyes, same in color as Soul's, moved left to right as she read the writing. She wore trousers and a normal button-up shirt reminiscent of the bandits he fought, which caused Soul some guilt. Guilt that he forced himself to repress.

Soul came up to the empty chair across the table and sat, waiting for the woman to respond. Her lips and brow were both curled downwards, indicated that she was in the middle of investigating something important, so Soul let her be. Between her casual sips of coffee, she laid her hand on her crossed legs and steadily tapped her finger at a moderate pace.

Without pausing her reading, she spoke. "That was a very risky move back there, punching that arrow through your arm."

Soul chuckled a bit. "Well, we're here now, aren't we?"

"Still, that was really extreme. You would have very nearly died of blood loss if we didn't finish the fight fast enough."

Soul didn't respond to her and instead changed topics. "You're drinking coffee?"

The woman still read. "Yeah. I like the flavor."

"But you don't need to eat, right?"

"I can still enjoy the taste."

Soul chuckled. "That's if you remember the taste in the first place. Anyways, what are you reading tonight?"

"I wanted to take a look at your time during the Beacon tournament. Maybe it could help with figuring out where our targets are."

Soul raised an eyebrow. "I thought you don't agree with my methods."

The woman put the book down on the table and finally give him her full attention. Once it was removed from her touch, the book disappeared in a small flash. "Yes, I don't agree with your haphazard fighting or your intentions, but regardless, I will always take your side."

"It's how you stay in the world after all."

The woman laughed a little. "Please Soul, I truly care about you. Our connection… is just one of the reasons why."

"So I guess we won't be training tonight?"

The woman created a watch and took a look. "No, unfortunately. It seems it is almost morning. You should have come to my dream faster."

Soul couldn't help it. His own dream, for the first time in forever, was blissful. "Wait, but doesn't time move slower here? We could have a round or two."

The woman smiled. "Sure, but I'm not in the mood now." Suddenly, the lights in the area darkened: the sun outside disappeared and the artificial lights in the greenhouse shut themselves off. From the edge of the room, a large blanket of darkness quickly expanded and was in the process of reaching the center circle where Soul and the woman sat.

"Ah, and besides, it seems you are in the process of waking up. Have a safe trip out there, and remember that I'm always by your side…" Then, the darkness engulfed both of them.

* * *

_…and remember that I'm always by your side… _The voices inside and out coincided as Soul opened his eyes. He found himself in a small and simple bedroom, containing one bed, one nightstand, and one chair and desk combo. He could feel the shifting of the ship he boarded just after leaving Aaron's village. In the past, the clumsy Liu would have gotten nauseated just from the thought of a ship.

But he knew he could no longer revert back to that innocent boy.

Once fully awake, Soul got out of bed and walked to the bathroom door at the left of his bed. He rubbed his eyes then looked into the mirror as he turned on the lights, slightly surprised at the blue iris that looked back at him. He pushed away that surprise, however, and took care of his black, tangled hair, trying to fix the bedhead the pillow gave him. It had gotten long since he had first began his journey, nearly reaching his nose at the front. He needed to get a haircut, Soul noted, but he was pretty sure he would forget about it as soon as the ship landed. Besides, getting his first haircut after Beacon… that thought seemed to scare Soul a bit for some reason.

The ship's horn shook him out of his train of thought, indicating that it was now nine in the morning. Soul quickly washed his face and fixed his hair, then went out the second door from his room. It led to the outside of the ship, pointing from the left side of its hull. While Soul made more than enough money under the guise of a hunter, he preferred to typically save it. That meant staying in smaller and cheaper rooms, as well as water-based vessels rather than airships. It wasn't horrible, though, since he could gaze out at the ocean like this.

Soul leaned against the railings, looking out towards the southern archipelago that dotted the vast ocean like grains of salt and pepper. Some were small and often uninhabited, which were largely ignored by the transport ship. Others were big with many cities, which the ship would often stop at for a day or so. Soul had always tried to visit those cities when they stopped, at the behest of the voice in his head, but he never felt calm when those times came. He would only walk around the streets for an hour or so before heading back to the ship to either rest or train.

"Having fun?" The captain, about fifty years in age with a shaven head, asked as he walked towards the brooding, fake hunter.

Soul wore his usual smile. "Yes, sir. It's quite a great ship you've got here."

The ship's captain lit a cigarette when he came to Soul's side. It had become their morning routine to talk since the first day they left Vale. "I really need to quit these things. You look cool, but it does awful things to the lungs."

"But you won't, right?"

"Nope."

Soul laughed. It was the small moments like this that made him happy, even if it was fleeting.

The ship captain didn't laugh along, but he did wear a small grin on his face. He looked back out into the ocean. "So what's the reason you're going to Menagerie? It's rare to see a non-faunus travel that far."

Soul frowned in remembrance of his reasons.

The captain breathed out smoke "I suppose you don't want to talk about it. Sorry for asking."

"No, it's not that. I'm… meeting a friend." Soul found he was a terrible liar, but he knew the captain wouldn't understand his true motive. Besides, he wasn't too far off from the truth.

The captain raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing it isn't a happy reunion."

Soul looked down. "No, it's not. It's going to be a bit uncomfortable meeting them."

"I can understand." The captain breathed in another whiff of his cigarette. He exhaled while speaking. "Take it from me. No matter how much you worry, it'll happen. You're going to meet them, whether you like it or not. Just prepare yourself and maybe things'll work out."

"I was expecting you'd say something more positive."

"Like what?"  
Soul smiled and waved his hands while speaking. "I don't know. Like, 'They won't judge you,' or, 'Imagine them with their underwear on.'"

"Unfortunately, I'm a realist." The captain threw his cigarette off into the waters below.

Soul couldn't argue with that. "How are the waters, anyways?"

"Good, actually. A strong dragon grimm has been active in these waters lately, but intel tells us we won't see it in our travels."

Soul looked back into the ocean. "That's good."

"Yeah." The captain inhaled another bit of smoke again. "By the way, your sweater's been mended up and cleaned this morning. You should be glad ol' Trev knows how to use a needle, because that thing looked like it was beyond repair."

Soul quickly looked back at the captain, his eyes in anticipation. "Mind if I give him a visit now?" He had been wearing his extra compression shirt and pants that he had in his bag, though he still felt naked without his sweater.

The captain looked back at Soul, taken aback at the joy in his conversation partner's voice. "Sure. Go up to the top deck, and you'll find him near the bridge."

"Thanks!" With that, Soul quickly walked past the ship's captain towards the steps.

* * *

Trev was sitting on a plastic chair, legs crossed, reading a book. He had to be in his seventies, and the shaking in his hands made one wonder how he could even use a needle and thread so well. However, the sweater, hanging on the railing in front of the bridge door, looked almost as good as new, despite the burns, cuts, and holes that plagued it before. There were a few patches here and there, which made Soul a bit disheartened, but overall, the sweater was miraculously fixed. Trev looked up from the book to examine his client.

"Seems mighty crazy," Trev said, "How beat up that old sweater was. I bet you haven't seen anyone with the same skill as me.

_I also haven't encountered the same amount of danger as I had back in that bandit fort_, Soul thought. "Thanks for the help. Let me pass you some credits."

The old man raised his hand. "No need. You already gave the credits when I started."

"But-"

"I said it's okay. Leave me be, already," the old man said callously, yet without anger. Trev shooed Soul with the movement of his hand, which the young man relented to, and got back to his book. After making sure Trev was settled, Soul grabbed the sweater and walked down the steps onto the top deck, near the area where the passengers generally relaxed. He put the sweater on, receiving a few strange stares due to the hot weather. However, as before, the sweater breathed very well in the heat thanks to the large sleeves, but could still keep Soul warm when needed. It was a great hiding place for his sweater and, overall, just felt comfortable. It truly was a remarkable sweater.

_Getting a little sentimental, are we? _The feminine voice chimed in his head, making Soul jump.

The voice chuckled. _Sorry, I didn't meant to scare you. I just wanted to let you know a few hypothesis that I came up with for Cinder and that other woman._

Soul looked around, making sure no one was looking at him, and subtly nodded. Try as she might, the woman could not hear his thoughts. He always had to physically reply, which was often difficult in public.

_Well, from your memories and from what I can gather outside, Cinder and Neo seemed to have disappeared after the attack, while Adam has remained prevalent._

_Tell me something I don't know_, Soul thought to himself, forgetting that she couldn't hear him like that. He made a hand signal, trying to let the woman know she could continue. He got a weird stare for that, which made her laugh once again.

_After doing this research, however, I've come to the realization that she must be incapacitated now. _

Soul raised his eyebrow, letting the voice know he was curious about her statement.

_Well, I've been a big fan of the Maiden stories, and from what I saw in your memories, she's definitely one of them. Still, despite her powers, there's no way she could have frozen that grimm in stone on top of the tower. In the legends, Maidens were only known for elemental magic, it seemed. They were powerful, that's for sure, but they weren't omnipotent. Someone else must've turned that grimm to stone, which means they must've been the one to harm Cinder. _

Nearby groups of people left the immediate area, giving Soul the chance to whisper to the voice. "You? A powerful swordswoman? A fan of kid's fairy tales?" He snickered a bit.

_Did you seriously only get that from what I just said? They're legends, not fairy tales! And besides, I can like what I want! _

The voice cleared her throat in displeasure, but continued despite Soul's jest. _Anyways, Cinder's body hasn't been found either, which makes me assume that she's still alive. If she is, though, then she must be weak, so we ought to attack her as soon as possible. _

Soul groaned. "But we have no idea where she is."

_But we have a lead on Adam. Since she was working with the White Fang, we could get her location with the help of Adam._

_On the topic of the pink and brown haired girl, though… well, that's another story. She worked under that one man in the fancy hat, if your memory serves correctly. It was that guy who was connected to all the others, not the girl herself. I suggest, then, that we search up information about that hat guy when we're in a city. It could point us in the right direction._

Soul nodded casually, but he was disheartened at the work he had before him. While he was close to finding Adam, he still had Cinder to find. Similarly, without so much as a name, the third one would be nearly impossible to look for. His goal was still so distant from him, possibly as far as the ends of Remnant. It could take years to find the three he was looking for.

But Soul knew he would do it. Even if he didn't want to, he had to do it. Any reservations came from his past, which still haunted him. That indecision, that weakness, it all tried to take Soul back. In moments like these, he always had to remind himself that he was Soul. He wasn't Liu anymore. Liu couldn't fight. Liu couldn't save. Liu couldn't protect.

But Soul? Soul could fight. Soul could save.

Soul could avenge.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for giving _RWBY: Revenant_ a read thus far! I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near the level of an actual author, so if you can, please provide me with some constructive criticism! I would love to make these chapters better and better as the story goes on! And if you're enjoying it, why don't you give the story a follow? There's so much that I will be doing with _Revenant_, so stick around! Anyways, thanks again!)


	6. Chapter 6: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 6: Before – Teamwork

The tiger grimm made its movement first, dashing towards the four in a wild sprint. With the exception of Orphiucha, the group jumped to the side. Orphiucha, on the other hand, ran straight towards the beast with determination. Ursus nearly ran back after her before she suddenly slid to the ground under the grimm and slammed her batons into both of the grimm's front legs. The grimm continued directly above her, oblivious to the fact that its right front leg became encased in ice, while the left seemed to burn with embers. The four regrouped on the other side of the clearing and got back into position, Liu taking the back, and stood their ground against the tiger grimm, who had turned back around after stopping. The grimm looked down at its feet and with a stomp, broke its right leg free and extinguished the left leg's flame.

"Seems it going to take a lot more than that," Orphiucha said, shaking her baton. Their colors changed from red to green and blue to white at the movement of her weapons.

This time, the three at the front were quick to charge, surprising the grimm who uncharacteristically took a defensive position. Liu watched as the trio ran confidently against the tiger-like beast, across the grassy clearing. However, Ursus quickly stopped and strangely placed his hands on the ground while the two others got up to meet their opponent. Both Orphiucha and Sagitari got close to bait out the grimm's attack, only to react in their own way: Orphiucha jumped backwards and slashed an energy wave from her green baton towards the grimm, while Sagitari grabbed the grimm's large paw and held it back.

_Holy crap, she's strong!_ Liu thought to himself. However, the awe quickly went away as the grimm won their exchange, pushing Sagitari a good ten feet back while ignoring the wave attack from Orphiucha. Both landed side-by-side to Ursus, whose strange position seemed to prove fruitful. Unexpectedly, the grass in front of them disintegrated and was now replaced with a large, muddy pool. Its expansion caught the curious grimm until it had fully engulfed the area the grimm stood on. Once Ursus stood up and the ground stopped transforming, the beast found its legs sinking into the ground below it. Next, Ursus jumped in the air, first tapping the ground with his foot to morph himself a heightened platform for support. Sagitari followed, dashing directly into the swampy water, despite the lack of a solid foundation.

Raising his humongous spear, Ursus stabbed downwards, next to the tiger grimm. With his weapon's touch, the entire area he changed, minus the small circumference of the grimm, morphed yet again into a very dry, arid ground lacking the moisture of the swamp he created before. Sagitari, not seeing the change, ended up getting her shins stuck in the new, hardened ground, but yet again proved her physical prowess by completely ripping her legs out of the earth and continuing her sprint towards her partner and the monster.

The grimm, seeing Ursus completely open as he focused on the earth, brought its paw towards him with its claws out before being punched aside by a surprising Sagitari. This gave Ursus a moment to pull his lance out of the ground and counterattack his enemy with a volley of jabs. Despite the stabs, however, the skin of the grimm seemed far too strong to break, and Ursus' spear only seemed to push the grimm off balance.

Sagitari took this chance, however, and came under the off-balanced grimm to deliver an uppercut directly under its chin. The attack proved effective somewhat, and the grimm was pushed off its feet, out of the sticky ground its legs were trapped in. For a few seconds, the beast stood still, and Liu very nearly cheered out in joy at their success. However, the grimm staggered back up, and anger filled its eyes at the previous outcome. Sagitari and Ursus both sighed, but got back into a fighting position, while Orphiucha, who stood behind them, changed one of her batons to black. She ran to the side of the beast as it started its assault on the two team members at the front. Orphiucha then shot out more energy waves, hoping to find a weak point in its thick fur. It spite of her ranged attacks, though, the monster still kept its focus on the two who threatened it at close range.

Liu, though afraid and hanging behind the entire group, noticed a few things in the past exchanges: the grimm was immune to elemental attacks, and physical attacks only proved to stun it. _If we want to beat it_, Liu thought, _we need to take it out completely._ But how? The grimm couldn't be hurt. It seemed almost invincible, and shallow attacks only seemed to annoy it. But, looking at the beast's differently colored mouth and eyes, the boy had an idea that required the three others in order to succeed.

Liu swallowed his fear and started running to the battlefield. The beast had already been wildly attacking Sagitari and Ursus, who kept to a method of mostly dodging before throwing the beast off balance and trying to knock it out, while Orphiucha threw meaningless long-range elemental attacks at it.

Once he was within twenty feet, he started yelling. "Don't attack its skin!"

The three, however, largely ignored him, focusing instead on the battle at hand.

Liu yelled again. "Go for the eyes and the mouth!"

Again, the three ignored him, continuing their useless attacks on the grimm's fur. It made sense, after all. Liu was the weakest of the bunch, so why would they listen to him? But it would all be meaningless if they couldn't kill the grimm. Liu realized he had to show them the real results before they would pay attention to his idea.

One thing that was good about Liu's cowardice was how it made the grimm ignore him completely. After all, he had done nothing to the grimm so far, while the three others badgered it with weak attacks. He had to use that to his advantage. In front of him, Ursus and Sagitari kept up a pattern of blocking a large strike, counterattacking, and then stunning the beast for a few seconds. It made no progress, but it did give Liu the opportunity he needed. So, Liu watched, waiting for that moment when he could jump in.

The fourth cycle of the pattern started. The grimm continued its wild slashing, ignoring the elemental attacks from Orphiucha. Ursus and Sagitari managed to block and dodge the attacks aimed at them, though their movements got a little sluggish from exhaustion. When the grimm became impatient missing the two and proceeded to use a much wider and stronger bash, Liu knew it was time for him to join in. True, he was not well trained or motivated, but he had to be confident in what he was going to do. The boy stood in attack position: both hands on his blade, aimed towards the beast. Liu took a breath then silently came up behind the two, watching Ursus move out of the overextended paw's reach before coming back up with a stab of his own and forcing the monster off-balance. Then, Liu leaped between Sagitari and Ursus, directly in front of the monolith of a vulnerable grimm. Fear took him for a bit, but he couldn't hesitate. He fought the emotion back and found his target: the right eye. Liu could see the surprise on the other students' faces in his peripherals as he took the sword into his inexperienced hands and stabbed directly towards the weak point. He desperately extended his arms, hoping and begging to inflict a wound.

For a second, he became reminded of his many failures and believed he wouldn't hit. That he would miss and the grimm would respond by mortally wounding the boy. That the students with him would die and no one would know the truth of how they all came to perish.

And yet, he hit the mark.

By no means was it a deep wound, but the tiger grimm finally felt the agony of a sharp blade. The beast stepped back quite a bit from the group, pulling its eye away from the deep penetration of Liu's sword. As usual, the grimm did not bleed out of its injury, but that did not stop the group from understanding the profound pain it was experiencing. It bellowed out and held its paw against its head, violently thrashing about in order to quell the ache.

But it wasn't dead yet. Not at all. Once the grimm finished flailing around, it looked at Liu with anger unlike anything before.

"How did you do that?" Sagitari asked, stunned at Liu's atypical behavior. Orphiucha came up to Ursus' side as well, astonishment on both of their faces.

Liu quickly spoke, eyes still on the grimm who kept rubbing its eye with its paw. "The grimm's fur is impenetrable, which I noticed when elemental and physical attacks didn't do anything against it. So, I assumed it must be have a weak point on the inside instead, like the eyes and the mouth. That's why I kept trying to get your attention! What you all kept doing was only aggravating it rather than actually hurting it." Sagitari and Ursus seemed a bit guilty at their perceived worthlessness of Liu. Orphiucha wasn't.

Out of their focus, the grimm roared, far louder than before. Its right eye was now completely shut, but it didn't seem to care. All it wanted was Liu's head now.

The four got back into battle position. "We need to be better organized in this fight." Liu looked back at the swampy ground from which the grimm was previously in. "Ursus, can you build a large enough mud pit to trap the grimm again?"

Ursus noded.

"Then we can trap him again. It'll be hard to get the grimm in one place, though. Orphiucha, you had an ice element, right? Can you-"

"I got it!" Orphiucha yelled as she jumped in front, both batons on the blue color. She was deeply angered by taking orders, it seemed, yet she followed anyways. She seemed to be the most nimble of the group as well, Liu assumed, which helped her with the job of keeping the grimm in one place. The three others stood back, waiting for the beast to attack.

However, the plan failed before it even began. The beast jumped over Orphiucha, directly in front of Liu. The boy reacted by holding his sword up, but the shake of the ground, mixed with Liu's dread, made him fall down unnaturally. The grimm had chosen its target when its eye got cut. It demanded retribution. Orphiucha couldn't even turn before the grimm slashed into his target's arm. Sagitari and Ursus tried to dash forward as the grimm came face to face with Liu, an almost human-like grin of joy growing on the monster's mouth. It took pleasure in hearing the scream reverberate from the boy's mouth. It loved seeing Liu holding his mangled arm against his chest. But, the grimm wanted more. It had only started its onslaught. The tiger grimm opened its mouth and breathed on Liu's dumb-struck face.

All the confidence that Liu once had now left him. What right did he have to tell the others what to do? They were far more experienced, far better at fighting. They were the ones who could be true hunters. But Liu? He was nothing, and now he was going to die by a grimm. The beast proceeded to move towards its target. Liu remained unmoved, shocked by even believing he could fight a grimm. All he could do now was fall back into fear, like he usually did. At least he could take some pleasure in knowing it was the last time he needed to feel that awful emotion.

"Don't give up!" Suddenly, a figure got in front of the grimm and grabbed its mouth by its canine teeth. It was Sagitari. Unlike before, Sagitari looked far stronger, with the muscles that would put a professional athlete to shame. Her brown hair and tan skin almost seemed to glow with a golden outline, as if her strength manifested not just in her body, but her spirit as well. While she also had the same ditzy look on her face, it also showed a force of determination. Determination to save her allies. On the other hand, the grimm looked as if it was getting weaker, almost like its muscles were slowly contracting.

Orphiucha and Ursus changed position as well and stood directly behind Sagitari, weapons aimed towards the beast. Sagitari looked back. "Liu, don't stop believing in yourself! Follow through with your plan, and we'll come around to help!"

Liu had always seen himself as worthless when it came to battle. Any junior fighting team event he took part in, he was always the bench-warmer. If he did get thrown into a fight, it was merely to tire out the opponent or to throw the other team off. All he was in fighting was a pawn, sent out with the expectation of losing. Yet, here now, he saw this group notice his worth. They protected him not because they were hunters, but because he was a vital part of their team. They looked at him for the plan, and here he was sitting on his butt, shaking in his pants.

Liu was awestruck at the turn of events, but he knew he couldn't give up. So what if he was weak or bad at fighting? Everyone had to start somewhere. He just started a little later. He would become a hunter.

He wanted to become a hunter.

Liu stood up, sword in hand, and pushed himself. He knew the plan could still be completed.

"Ursus! Create another mud pit here!"

Ursus nodded and put his hands on the ground. The area below the grimm became devoid of grass and was instead replaced with a muddy circle, which only encapsulated the beast's legs. As time passed, the grimm started to become stronger and its muscles became bigger. They had to be quick.

"Orphiucha! Freeze the grimm's legs!"

"You don't have to order me!" Orphiucha dashed up and danced around the beast, quickly striking each leg with her batons. Frost crystallized around the grimm's legs and finalized its position.

Liu finally raised his sword. "Sagitari! Let go now!"  
Quickly, Sagitari, still in her muscular state, jumped to the side and let go. Liu knew, the monster was far too strong. It could jump out of the way instantly if it wasn't held down by the trap. Given enough time, it would probably even break the ice and jump out of the pit. But the traps held it in place for more than long enough for Liu to attack. Sword raised, Liu thrusted with his good arm, this time aiming for the open, roaring mouth. Liu thought he would hesitate like before, feeling fear or embarrassment of his past.

But not this time.

Liu stabbed deep into the tiger grimm's mouth, past the canines, and out through the top of the head. The roar hushed in an instant and the monster's eyes grew wide. The beast had probably dealt pain and devastation for years without end, taking hunters and civilians alike as its victims. Now, it had to face death itself. With a whimper, light faded from its eyes. The grimm dropped to the ground and started its evaporation, releasing Liu's sword and letting everyone know they had finally killed it.

Orphiucha cheered with Sagitari, while Ursus quietly smiled. Liu felt his legs grow tired under him, and he fell onto his back, sword dropped beside him. He couldn't believe it. He didn't know what he was feeling. Fear? No, he let that own him long enough. This was joy. Joy in living another day. Joy in fighting grimm and protecting people.

Sagitari came up and crouched down towards him. "You okay?" she asked, smiling warmly as she always did. Her large muscles had shrunken back down, and she returned to normal size. Behind her were Orphiucha and Ursus, who had concern on their faces, even if one of them didn't want to show it. He truly smiled back. "Yeah, I think I am."

And joy in having friends to fight together with.

* * *

_"I'm telling you, we need to grab four of the same chess pieces!" _Orphiucha yelled yesterday, carefully wrapping Liu's arm after Sagitari and Ursus' sloppy attempts. Unlike with what she did to get Liu out of the tree, she actually was attentive to Liu's wound and managed to successfully bandage it without inflicting extra pain. Perhaps it was payment for his help in their battle.

Once they had finished off the grimm, the four decided they wanted to become team members, though Orphiucha was a bit hesitant. However, they were unsure how to go about it. Orphiucha claimed it was related to which chess piece they get, a point that Liu himself agreed with. Sagitari, on the other hand, believed that it had to involve colors, which Ursus nodded along with.

_"What if it's color-coded though?" _Sagitari brought up. It was a fair point, but Liu believed it had to be based on the chess pieces. Why else would there only be four of each? Eventually, they all agreed to do both: get four of the same piece and color. The only ones left for them that fit the bill were the black pawns. Today, they would find out whether or not that theory was true.

The four sat together in the ampitheatre, where Ozpin would announce each team's members. Now they just had to wait. After Ozpin made his starting speech, he announced the new first-year teams.

"Russell Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark…"

"It's starting!" Sagitari nearly cheered from her seat in the quiet auditorium, which was followed by a quick bop on her head by Orphiucha. People gave them a few hostile stares, but nothing lasted as the first team's name was revealed.

Ozpin continued. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."

"So, it was both," Liu muttered. Ursus nodded in agreement. He looked down to see Sagitari and Orphiucha both smiling. Looks like they were a full team.

* * *

"Orphiucha Rasalhague, Ursus Polaris, and Liu Xiu. The four of you retrieved the black pawn pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team SOUL, led by Sagitari Kaus."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for giving _RWBY: Revenant _a read! I wonder how many OC fan fictions involve the characters fighting a grimm on their first day? Anyways, if you feel comfortable, please give me some constructive criticism! I love writing, but I know I still have a long way to go! And, if you enjoy this story, why don't you give it a follow? I definitely have a lot planned for this story, and I aim to finish the entire thing... however long that'll take. So, thanks again, and God bless. *insert Bob Ross theme here*)


	7. Chapter 7: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 7: After – Menagerie

_Whoa! What an interesting place! Hey, stop and take a look around. I want to see this place a bit better!_ The voice said in Soul's head as he walked off the boat, weapons off his hip and in his bag. She always loved the new sights that they found themselves at. Soul himself had no like or dislike for the places he went to, especially when it was superseded by his mission. However, that didn't keep him from giving Menagerie a good look around. The coastal city, despite the shape it was in, was well populated. Hundreds upon hundreds of faunus walked around the docks visiting shops, fishing, or just taking a walk. There was an occasional human or two, but overall the faunus clearly outnumbered them by a huge margin. It was almost suffocating how many people there were, and Soul could tell there were even more on the main streets. It was quite an experience compared to the typical, open cities in Vale.

"Great weather, isn't it?" A voice behind Soul asked, practically making him jump. The captain came up to Soul's side, finishing off the last of a cigarette while carrying a small crate under his arm.

Soul looked up to the clear, blue skies. It was perfect weather for a city like this one. "Definitely. It's quite a difference from the cold weather going on in Vale."

The captain nodded. He put down the crate to his feet. "Anyways, the ship will be in port a couple of days. You think your job will finish in time?" It was obvious he knew Soul didn't primarily come to meet a friend – though that wasn't necessarily a lie.

"I think so. It shouldn't take too long to find who I'm looking for."

"Yep." The captain turned. "I can stay an extra day if needed, but I'm not sure if the passengers will be gung-ho if we wait any longer."

"I'll finish in two days. Promise."

The captain waved while walking back to the boat, leaving Soul to his own devices.

"But where to start?" Soul whispered to himself, taking a second look around the area.

_You know,_ the voice chimed in, _Bars and restaurants are a great source of information. You may want to try there?_

"Probably," Soul muttered while covering his mouth. After making sure he didn't receive any stares for talking to himself, the hunter walked down the docks. Most of the places in this area were outside seating areas or simple snack shacks that provided cool drinks. It'd be too hard to find information in these kinds of places, so Soul decided to move to the beach. He did receive the occasional stare and point while walking, but he had concluded it came from the fact he was human, a rarity in the town. Thankfully, none of the looks were hostile, save for one or two, so he decided to ignore them.

When Soul had reached the cobblestone pathway in the sand, he took another look at his surroundings. In front of him stood giant mountains filled to the brim with palm trees. Sprinkled throughout these green mountains as well were large houses, perhaps owned by the richer families who lived here. In the center of all of the houses, however, stood one large mansion, the residency of the faunus leader, Soul assumed. Rather than go down the path to the mountainous residential area, Soul turned and continued down the path parallel to the beach. Similar to the dock, this street was crowded, with faunus flooding in and out of buildings and shops that lined the way forward.

_Oh, go in this place, Soul!_ Soul turned towards the restaurant he had just passed. "Palm Tree Diner" the sign read. He took a small breath in preparation.

"Guess it's time to start asking around."

* * *

Soul was very nearly chased out of the diner by the wife of the owner.

"How dare you ask something like that?!" A barrage of plates and silverware came towards the running Soul. Luckily, his reflects allowed him to dodge projectiles from non-hunter hands.

"Well, that didn't go well," he muttered.

_Well, of course. You are asking faunus if they've seen a criminal who's also a faunus. It probably comes off as racist._

"Let's try again," Soul stated confidently. After all, it was just one restaurant.

* * *

"Get out of here!" another owner yelled as he threw forks and knifes at a running Soul. Despite being able to dodge it, Soul found this owner quite a bit more proficient with his silverware.

* * *

"What on Remnant made you think we know where Adam is?" the fifth owner of the day screamed with a red face as he tried to attack Soul with a butcher's knife. The knife very nearly implanted itself into the fake hunter's face, just barely grazing his cheek. Luckily, the voice's semblance managed to heal the shallow slice in an instant, but in order to avoid more grievous ailments, Soul decided to run off again.

* * *

Soul very nearly got caught by the last bar owner, an ex-hunter who still kept her weapon around. Thankfully, the woman's age debilitated her enough to keep Soul from getting caught. In order to hide from her, Soul jumped into a restaurant he had yet to visit.

"Ugh, talk about a tough question," Soul said as he sat down at an empty table, dropping his backpack and weapons onto the chair next to him. The place was pretty crowded, but it was far from claustrophobic. Sets of tables and chairs lined one side of the restaurant parallel to the bar, which had its own seating area along the length of it. Once past the bar, the restaurant opened up in the back a little bit for a small section of tables, around seven of them. In the corner of the place played a small television next to an electric fan.

Once Soul ordered some food from the waiter with reptilian scales, he took a journal and a pen out of his backpack.

_So… I guess you understand what I mean now? _The voice asked in his head.

This time, Soul used the paper as his way of communication, under the guise of writing a journal entry. "_I understand, but I mean, how do I go about asking without sounding racist? The White Fang member told me to go to Menagerie!"_

_ Maybe you could say you got a tip about him being in Menagerie?_

_ "No, no one would believe it. If Adam was in Menagerie, then people would know."_

_ Then why did you come to Menagerie if you knew that? It would have saved a lot of time just asking around some more in Vale!_

Soul spun his pen around his hand a bit before writing. "_No, I don't think so. I'm not looking for Adam himself here, I'm looking for-"_

A butcher's knife plopped in front of Soul's face, directly onto the paper he was using. He very nearly cursed, believing one of the past owners he made angry finally found him. However, Soul looked up to find a group of seven annoyed-looking faunus simply staring at the young man. The restaurant had gone completely silent upon sight of the gang surround the sole human in the restaurant, and soon only the television was left making sound.

"Hello?" Soul asked, puzzled at them surrounding his table. He quickly ripped the journal off of the knife and stuffed it in his bag.

A very tough-looking wolf faunus, whom Soul took as the leader, grabbed him by his collar and lifted him out of the seat. "What? You think after your kind's banished us to this island that your people can just visit whenever you please?"

Soul trying to pose as weak, channeling his old Liu self for this situation. He had a nervous smile and tried to weaken the man's grip on his sweater with the strength of a below-average man. "W-well technically, you can still live in Remnant. Faunus aren't-"

The man cut off Soul's sentence by pushing him into the nearby wall. The gang proceeded to create a half-circle around him while the other patrons tried their best to ignore the situation. Soul could tell the customers were uncomfortable, but didn't want to make the scene any worse. He chose to believe they didn't do it out of spite against humanity, so he didn't hold anything against them.

"What? You don't think humans hate us? You think we're all equal and happy how things are?"

"O-of course not! Listen, one of my friends was a faunus-"

The man, seeing Soul sat at the closest table to the window, proceeded to throw him out the restaurant. The human crashed through the glass, plastering it all throughout the cobblestone walkway before he fell on his back. He opened his eyes after landing to find a small crowd of pedestrians forming around himself and the broken glass. The gang inside were quick to come outside and approach the fallen man. Soul, for the extra measure, put his hands into the glass, giving himself an even more pathetic look. That didn't stop one of the group members from lifting him off the ground, though.

The head of the group came up to Soul and, seeing the large number of faunus staring at them, put his hand on the human's shoulder and smiled. He then pushed Soul to keep moving with him, towards the back of the restaurant, which was half shrouded in palm trees. The gang proceeded to follow.

"I think it's time we teach you a lesson, human," the gang leader said, his sharp canines just a few inches from Soul's ears.

_Well, good job in Menagerie. Looks like you already drew attention to us. How long has it been? Two hours?_

"It wasn't my fault," Soul muttered.

"What was that, punk?"

"N-nothing!"

* * *

Soul laid down on the muddy ground, his body broken. By the time the seven faunus got bored of beating him, he counted six ribs and one arm broken, alongside a plethora of cuts and bruises. He could even feel his nose bent in the wrong place. It hurt, that was for sure, but it was nothing compared to get shot by a missile.

"Ugh, I hate when my nose gets broken," Soul said as he cupped it in his hand and proceeded to bend it back to where it was before. "Even if it heals correctly, it doesn't go back to its original shape. You got to do it yourself."

_Ow! You do realize everything you feel, I feel too, right?_

The smaller wounds and almost all the bruises had already healed when he bent his nose back into place. He could feel the pain in his ribs subsiding too, though they were still tender. No matter how fast his healing was, broken bones still took a relatively longer time. "Sorry, but what could I do? Beat up some mildly angry citizens? I have your semblance, so I thought it would be fine to just take it rather than create more problems, you know?"

_You could just, I don't know, dodge!? _

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I promise the next time we get into something like that, I'll dodge."

Soul didn't hear a response, so he assumed the voice was shunning him in anger. He knew he'd have to apologize properly later on, so he gave up on talking to her and got up off the ground. At this time, his ribs were still a little bit broken, but almost lacked the same tenderness that it had a minute ago. His arm still hurt a bit, but at least he could move it now. He suspected in the next five minutes, he'd be completely functional again. Despite their arguments, Soul had to admit that the voice in his head was a capable comrade. The hunter patted the dirt off of his sweater, and began walking back into the streets.

Before he even took his first step, though, he heard something on the side of the restaurant, opposite of where he came from. While Soul would pass it off as the wind or anything else, the trashcan falling seemed to indicate someone was watching him. Almost instinctively, Soul readied his scarf by using his semblance to move it towards his good arm inside the sweater sleeve. He tip-toed around the wall, making sure to not scare off whoever watched him, and used his electric semblance to sense the static electricity in his general area. He could tell the person was still there, but could also tell they were ready to run away when the time came for it. If the person was this scared, Soul assumed, they must be a spy, probably sent to get information on him.

He'd have to be quick. If he messed up, the man would run away almost instantly. If he was related to the White Fang, this would be their only chance, too. Soul took a deep breath, then in a moment, turned into the alleyway and shot his scarf out, grabbing the waiting person's leg. As quickly as he came out, he receded back into the corner and pulled after making sure the person's leg was securely wrapped. He felt the weight try to struggle out of the scarf's handle, but they were helpless as the metal clothing pulled them towards the back of the restaurant. Soul was prepared for anything. Be it a hunter or another White Fang member, he would actually fight this time. Soul forced his bad hand into a fist, getting ready for the scarf to read its destination, and-

The end of the scarf came around the edge of the wall to reveal a rather dirty-looking child with the ears of a rabbit. He clothes were riddled with holes and seemed to be just as dirty as he was, if not more. He looked almost paralyzed with fear upon his reveal, with his hands held up, or rather, down. However, the boy managed to open his mouth and speak with a voice that hadn't yet reached puberty.

"H-hello?"

* * *

Soul was very fortunate to find his bag kept safe by the restaurant owners as an apology for the gang's behavior. He wasn't offended by them, but was quick to accept their help. In a similar friendly response, he tried to pay the owners back for the broken window. No matter how much Soul tried to give them they money, however, they always refused and only took the money that Soul paid for his food. Once he received his bag, he ran back out the back, where the homeless boy still sat.

"Hey, what kind of food do you like?" Soul asked as he opened it and searched through his rations. "I have a burger, fish, chick-"

"Burger!" The boy nearly shouted. The near-desperation look on his face indicated that the boy hasn't had a good meal in a long time. Soul threw the ration pack to the boy, who opened the large bag just as soon as he caught it. The kid took no detour, and went straight for the main course: the stale and cold hamburger. Soul found that type of ration to be his least favorite, but before he could give a warning, the kid already dug in. Yet, the boy's face showed an incredible amount of pleasure in indulging in such a gross and greasy food. That is, until he started coughing.

"Are you alright?" Soul asked as he handed his water canteen to his partner. The boy almost immediately gulped the liquid before eating the hamburger again. Soul, seeing his visitor's focus, decided to simply wait before talking and took a seat next to the boy. While waiting, Soul inspected his ribs and arm, finding both body parts completely healed from his previous encounter.

"So your semblance is healing, huh? I saw you get beat up a lot, but you just got back up!" The boy exclaimed, making Soul gasp at the abruptness. He had another look in his eyes, Soul noted, that seemed to indicate an excitement separate from food.

"Yeah. I can heal pretty fast when it comes to minor wounds or cuts. Bigger problems take a while to heal, though."

The boy had stars in his eyes. "Hunters are so cool!"

Soul noted that the boy sounded like the one guy from Vale whom he saved from a grimm. "Oh, so you want to be a hunter?"

The boy continued his eating, but nodded. He swallowed his bite before talking. "It's my dream to go to Beacon! Or rather, it was…" He became downcast at that sentence. Soul felt the same.

"Well, there's always those other school, like the ones in Mistral and Vacuo."

The boy shrugged. He finished his burger already and drank some more water from the canteen. "Besides, a worthless orphan like me? With no money?"

"What's your name, kid?"

"My name is Jahr."

Soul put his hand on Jahr's shoulder. "I'm Soul. You want to know how I got into Beacon?"

Jahr looked up. "How?"

"I just passed the writing test. Everything else? The physical exam? I didn't get graded for that at all."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"My point is that the headmaster there was a little… different. He didn't care where you came from, and he was quick to accommodate anyone. One of the other teammates got in on the physical exam alone. I knew someone who got into Beacon despite being a year younger! See, the headmaster didn't care about your past. He didn't care whether you were human or faunus. He cared about your character, and I can see that you have a good character Jahr. Besides, the academy will open back up by the time you want to go.

Jahr nodded and smiled. "Mr. Hunter? I'm sorry, but I was following you all day. I saw you talking with people here about Adam…"

Soul quickly stood up. "Oh, I'm sorry! It wasn't because I thought faunus would automatically know where Adam was. I got a tip that-"

"I understand, Mr. Hunter. You're a nice enough guy that I can't imagine you coming to Menagerie for reasons like that."

"Then, do you know if Adam is here or not? Or rather if you know someone here who knows?"

The boy looked around before leaning forward and telling Soul a little more quietly. "Those gang members? They may know something. I've seen them talking to some suspicious characters a few times already."

Soul's expression change as he felt anticipation fill him yet again. He rubbed his previously bad hand and put it in a fist. "Do you know where they live, Jahr?"

"No, sir. I do know where they go to hang out together, though."

"Can you take me?"

The boy nodded. "Sure. They've been a lot of trouble for us faunus, too, so I wouldn't mind seeing you kick them into shape!"

Soul hid a malicious grin. Even though it was all conjecture, the fact that they could know about Adam made Soul excited.

And yet, he was also disgusted. Disgusted in his desire for revenge and his thirst for battle. Just like at the bandit fort, Soul could do some horrible things to that group of faunus. Things that they didn't deserve, even though they had beaten Soul horribly before he healed. Yet, in his mind, it was all necessary.

"Then show me the way. Oh, and Jahr?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't call me a nice guy."

* * *

The sun had just about ducked under the horizon when Soul and Jahr arrived at the shack in the forest. After about a few miles' walk from the city center, Soul was somewhat disappointed to find the shack in total disarray. The straw roof had several patches of open holes, revealing a bamboo skeleton beneath the leaves. The wooden walls were stained dark with the passage of time, and similar to the roof, had several torn openings. If it wasn't for the sound of laughter or source of light from the inside, people would believe the place's only residents to be vermin.

Soul took off his backpack and handed it over to his helper. Jahr was awe-struck at seeing the two swords peeking out of the top. "Are you sure you don't need these, Mr. Hunter?"

Soul shook his head. "I don't want to kill them. After all, if they are meeting with White Fang like you said they are, then I need information from them."

"But you got beat up bad last time!" Jahr tried to hand the weapons back to the young man.

Soul smiled in order to reassure the faunus boy. "Don't worry, it's just a small group. I'll be done before you know it. Oh, but please run away from here."

Jahr was about to refuse, but Soul shut him up by holding his hand up.

"I don't want you to get caught up in this. Besides, a hunter protects people, right?"

Jahr looked hesitant, but nodded when Soul brought up the purpose of a hunter. The boy then turned away and started running. Soul turned around as well, towards the shack. He popped his knuckles and started walking.

"Well, I guess it's good you taught me how to fight hand-to-hand," Soul said to the quiet, but observing, voice.

* * *

Mick was flabbergasted to see the previously beat up human break down the door to his group's headquarters. They had left the man almost for dead. Mick even made sure to leave him with some broken bones! Yet, here he was, standing at the entrance of the place, his blue, angry eyes piercing into the faunus' soul. Seeing the man up and about shook not just Mick, but the entire group too, as seen when everyone froze at the sight of him. Not a single one approached the man, so he instead chose to walk towards them. The creaking of the wooden floor indicated that he was, in fact, alive and not a ghostly figure. Once he was within a few feet of the closest person, he finally spoke with a new, confident voice that he previously didn't have.

"You know, I thought this place would have more than just a barrel and a stack of cards. It is your hideout, is it not?"

Mick finally stood up, club weapon in hand. His motions indicated for the group to do the same, each with their own choice of weapon. Some had knives, others had crowbars. Be a zombie or an imposter, he was no match for their gang.

"Get him!"

The man grinned, his posture set for fighting. "Hey, you started it, not me."

* * *

Soul was impressed with himself at how different fighting seemed to him from five years ago. Before, it seemed difficult to dodge attacks from even regular people, and Soul, or rather Liu, would never be able to hold his own in such a match. Now, this group of seven seemed to move in slow motion towards him. Even when Soul let them beat up him, it was almost unbearable how long the beating took to end. Now, Soul could finally unwind.

The closest one came at him with a brass knuckle, with what looked like spikes at the end. He tried to punch, but was far too slow against the speed of a trained fighter. Soul quickly moved his head away, then brought it back and slammed his forehead into the man's jaw. He could hear a skin-crawling crack at the force, and watched the first gang member fall to the ground, hand against his mouth. Soul then turned to the left, where the next closest opponent was. He held a brick in his hand and was prepared to smack it against the side of their enemy's head. Soul waited for the second attacker to bring his hand back, then swiftly pulled his head out of the brick's range. Once the man's attack finished its swing, Soul came forward and delivered a punch into his cheek. There wasn't the sound of a bone breaking this time, but Soul had no time to check if he was conscious or not. He just had to accept the staggering away as unconsciousness before he turned backwards, towards the three who approached him.

Soul readied himself. Even if they were untrained fighters, taking on three would be difficult without taking a scratch. The closest came up with a predictable hook, which Soul deftly dodged under the arm. He then came back up with a solid gut punch of his own, dropping the third gang member. The next tried to stab with his knife, nearly impaling into the human's neck like a pig. However, Soul moved just enough to get out of major damage, and let his semblance heal the cut as he grabbed the knife wielder's attacking forearm, held the elbow with his other hand, and broke it with a quick and efficient force. Again, a cracking sound resounded through the shack, and the man screamed and fell to the ground while holding his broken arm. _That's the second one down for sure_, Soul thought. The final attacker of the group of three went around his fallen friend with a crowbar, eyes full of fury. They didn't match Soul's, however, and the young ex-student held his arm up to block the weapon, intensifying the aura in his arm. The fifth gang member tried to swing as hard as he could against Soul, but the aura won out in a land slide. The metal of the crowbar bent around his arm, indicating who Soul truly was to the group. The fifth attacker was about to run away upon the knowledge of their single opponent's aura training, but Soul immediately responded with a barrage of three quick jabs into the man's gut. He fell, gasping for air and trying to get his lungs working again.

With the three attackers finished, Soul turned to the wolf faunus who attacked him and his laky. Their faces indicated a mixture of bewilderment and fear, but they were prepared to attack, unlike the last man with a crowbar. The sixth faunus came first, in front of the wolf faunus who hung back. Soul put his hands up, ready to counterattack.

However, he felt an unknown force hit him square in the back of the head, and debris of brick came from behind. The surprise attack got Soul, who lowered his aura after the crowbar attacker, and he found himself incredibly dizzy as a result. The laky, who had a wooden plank, followed up with a great swing, breaking his own weapon on Soul's head. Soul could barely stand up at the attacks, and fell onto his knees. He could feel blood dripping from the top of his head, clouding his sight with red.

_Are you really going to lose to a weak gang? _Soul could barely hear in his head, underneath the loud ringing. He had no understanding of what was going on due to the two deep head wounds. He could tell three of the members were surrounding him, but Soul had no idea what to do. He would die in a simple shack in a small island nation, probably.

_Soul? Soul! I'm here! Don't give up yet! Remember, these people know where Adam is! _Soul looked back up at their faces. Though they were satisfied in the damage they did, the faunus were still scared at their opponent, like he would jump up at any second.

"But what can I do?" Soul asked out loud, forgetting that only he could hear the voice. The three reacted by jumping back.

_Anything! Do you want your friends' death to be unsolved? Do you want to forget about them? _The voice seemed hesitant to use that as a motivator, but in times like these, it was necessary. Just hearing about his friends' death shook something inside of Soul. Soul wiped the blood off of his eyes…

And smiled just as demonic as a grimm.

Without any indication, Soul shot his scarf out of his sleeve, grabbing the neck of the faunus in front of him. The bigger faunus to the right reacted by trying to throw his own punch at the mad Soul. Soul reflexively moved out of the way, still choking the faunus in front of him, and proceeded to slam his palm under the big man's chin. Before the man even fell to the ground at the uppercut, however, Soul threw more punches with his open arm as much as he could. Next, Soul turned to the third gang member, who staggered backwards in fear. Rather than attack, the man ran out the door, letting their single opponent focus on choking the last faunus.

While being surrounded by so many unconscious bodies, Soul continued his torture, believing such a process was important for interrogation. But more than that, he craved it. If these people are connected with the White Fang, that means they are related to his friends' death. _They deserve it_, Soul thought to himself. He was glad beyond anything. He-

"Hey!" A familiar voice came from the entrance. Soul looked back to see the wolf faunus holding Jahr by his rabbit ear. He took a knife from his pocket and held it against the boy's throat. "Looks like this homeless kid was watching from the corner. I assume he led you to where we were at? Well, if you want him to live, let go of my friend and walk away."

Soul looked into Jahr's eyes, which were full of fear. Not just fear in the wolf faunus who held him hostage, but fear in what Soul had become suddenly. The previously well-trained fighter had transformed into a monster, nearly choking a man to death while brutally beating another. The boy saw something he shouldn't have, and it made Soul a bit more human. Soul willingly put the faunus down, who became unconscious from the choking.

Yet, Soul couldn't let this group go. If he was to leave, how would he get this chance at information again? He had to fulfill his mission. Soul turned back towards the wolf faunus and the boy.

"If it means sacrifices, so be it," Soul reluctantly said to himself. He got his scarf prepared for action, looking deep into the boy's eyes. His sacrifice would not be in vain, Soul believed. He looked back at the wolf faunus, who started to realize his hostage situation wouldn't work. In fear and in haste, the gang leader screamed and brought his knife up before Soul even ran forward. He watched as the faunus, and by effect, Soul, was about to kill a young boy.

Before even a thing could occur, however, his hand was grabbed from behind and his neck was chopped. Jahr shifted out of the way before the unconscious body fell on the ground, but nearly jumped when another hand touched his shoulder: the hand of a guard. He had regular armor around his body, even on the tail. Soul could see a few others like him standing directly behind, holding the runaway faunus from before.

"We're with the Belladonna police force, sent by Mr. Belladonna himself. Please come with us, sir."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! How are you doing? Thanks for giving _RWBY: Revenant_ a read! I will have to apologize in advance, because after this pair of chapters, I will upload a little slower. Not horribly slow, but just about a weekly update rather than every few days. So if you are interested, why don't you give a follow? Similarly, please provide me with some constructive criticism! These two chapter may seem a little sloppy, but it due to some reasons. Now that I have it all figured out, I think the next pair of chapters will be much better! So, thanks again!)


	8. Chapter 8: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 8: Before – The First Day of School

Liu found himself sitting on a rock, overlooking a vast mountain range. The feet of the mountains were covered by a thick fog, but the mountains still peaked out from the blanket. In his hands, he found a flute, made of a special wood only found in Mistral that he often enjoyed playing back home. In fact, inspecting the mountains closer, Liu realized they were the same mountains near his home.

But how? He and his father went to Vale not look ago. How did he get back to Mistral?

"So, I guess you must be homesick?" From behind, a voice spoke that made him jump off his rock-chair.

Liu looked back to find a beautiful woman with long, black hair and deep, blue eyes looking a little worried. She wore a long, white dress and was completely barefoot, which seemed strange in this geography. "Are you okay? I didn't scare you, did I?"

Liu stared for a bit before shaking his head and standing up. "No, not at all. I just didn't look around is all."

The woman smiled. "Well that's good to know. Anyways, what is this place?"

Liu raised an eyebrow. "Don't you know where we are? It's Mistral."

The woman's eyes opened in surprise. "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were from Mistral."

The boy tilted his head. "What do you mean? I didn't mention that."

Suddenly, the ground shook with the feeling of an earthquake. "Oh, I guess it's time to leave," the woman crossed her arms and smiled, "But, Liu, I will say that you're an interesting person. I wish we could talk more."

Liu was horribly confused. "What are you talking about?" The tremors slowly got more and more violent. He could barely stand up at this point and tried his best to get out of the way as he saw the ground below him crack open. The woman, on the other hand, started floating in the air.

"You'll see later. I'll come visit again."

Then, the ground widened and sent Liu deep into the abyss.

* * *

Liu awoke to the feeling of being shaken around by an over-excited Sagitari. When she saw Liu was awake, she quickly let go, causing him to hit his head against the bed frame. Sagitari was far too energetic to notice it, however, and proceeded to shake Ursus. "Good morning, Team SOUL!"

It was morning, as indicated by the natural light coming into the room, though it was still far too early for teens to wake up. Liu looked across the room, noticing that Orphiucha had received the same treatment. She was sitting on the side of her bed, white hair in a fritz and eyes half-closed.

"Are you okay?" Liu asked her, concerned that she didn't sleep well. As a response, Orphiucha simply looked over and groaned, then fell back onto the bed.

The team had just settled into their dorms directly after being named as Team SOUL. Too tired to talk last night, the group had almost immediately sunk into their respective beds. Soul took a bed near the windows, followed by Ursus doing the same thing. Sagitari and Orphiucha, respectively, took the beds by the wall with the front door.

The big bear had finally gotten up after the fifteenth shake by Sagitari. He had a similar look to bewilderment to Liu, but he still had an easier time waking up. Sagitari, seeing her job was complete, walked to the edge of the room and raised her fist up. She tried to look determined, but the pajama's she wore made it comical. "Alright! Now is the first official meeting of Team SOUL!"

Orphiucha, still laying down with her eyes closed, was the second to speak. "Care to tell us why you woke us up? It's not even two hours before our first class."

"That's simple! We need to make a team motto! And team uniforms! And team-"

Liu was appreciative of Sagitari's positive energy, but that didn't stop him from getting slightly peeved at his sudden wake up as well. "Err, Sagitari? Not to ruin your expectations, but we're just a group of students. We aren't a crime-fighting team."

Sagitari slowly dropped her fist and looked down. "Oh, I see… I guess you all don't like us grouped together?"

"Right. Now, let's sleep," Orphiucha spoke up.

Sagitari ripped her quilt out from the bed's mattress and threw it on top of the girl. "Hey! I was trying to make you feel guilty! After I look sad, you're supposed to apologize!"

Orphiucha jumped off of the bed, quilt still over her head. Even without seeing her facial expressions, Liu could tell she had her usual argumentative face on. "Why should I? You were faking it!"

Both girls were steaming towards one another. Ursus looked at Liu with the expression of "Here we go again," and Liu sighed with him. He got out of his bed and stood between the two arguing parties. "Now, Sagitari. I didn't say that at all. I'm glad we're grouped together, but we ought to slow down a bit. After all, we just started. Maybe once the tournaments start up, then we can think about those things, okay?"

Sagitari, though disappointed at that conclusion, smiled and nodded. "Alright then, team! For the first order of business, let's get breakfast! On the count of three, raise your hands in the air and say Team SOUL! One! Two! Three!"

The team cheer was only said by an energetic Sagitari and a half-hearted Liu, though Ursus had his hand up. Orphiucha took part in none of it.

* * *

"Alright, so we need to gauge our skills. What are we all, long-ranged? Close-ranged? Are we bad against certain semblances? Good? All of that, we need to figure out," Sagitari said as she gulped down her fifth bowl of Pyrrha-brand cereal. The group, after waking and getting ready, had already migrated over to the school cafeteria and were trying to finish breakfast before their next class.

"You know, apparently that girl is a part of the school this year," Liu said as he pointed at the half-empty box. In truth, he was just trying to move the conversation somewhere else. While he managed that fight against the grimm, he highly doubted he could do the same thing once more. Besides, he was the one who did the least during the fight. All of the active part was due to the three others.

"Oh, yeah! I always wanted to have a match against her but-"

"Don't change the subject, Loo," Orphiucha said before biting into a banana.

"A match against Pyrrha? And besides, I wasn't changing the subject, I was just… pointing a fun fact out. And wait, my name's Liu! Lee-oo!"

"C'mon, Liu!" Sagitari spoke, "Don't you want our team to be good? Sure, you may not be as adapt as some other hunters are, but I'm sure you have something you can bring to the table!"

"Other than another box of cereal?"

"Liu, I'm serious," Sagitari said softly, a surprising difference from her usual bouncy self.

Looking into her serious eyes, Liu gave up on trying to change the subject. "Fine. What do you have in mind?"

Sagitari grinned, then stood on the table. "Midnight practice!"

Liu and Orphiucha both looked at one another in embarrassment, and put their head down. Ursus simply scratched his red hair, though, and kept eating his sausages and eggs. Nearly all the students in their vicinity had their eyes on Sagitari.

"For the love of…," Orphiucha said, "Get down from there, Tari!"

Sagitari laughed, but conceded and sat back down in her seat at the table. "I mean that we should have a midnight practice tonight! After class! It would be great for us to figure out how we all fight!"

"Well… you do have a point," Orphiucha agreed.

Ursus nodded with a smile as well.

The three looked at Liu. "Well, Mr. Mistral? Want to tango with some people from Vale or are you chicken?" Sagitari joked.

Liu, feeling backed into a corner, gave up. "Fine, but don't expect much."

The bell rang after Liu's consent, indicating they had to start walking to their first class.

"Shoot! We need to hurry up!" Sagitari literally chugged the last bowl of cereal in its entirety, and jumped over the table towards the exit with her superhuman strength. Ursus and Orphiucha were next to follow, and Liu was immediately left behind. Before he even threw his food in the trash, the three disappeared out of the cafeteria. Once Liu did manage to get out, however, he looked around to find his teammates gone.

"Oh no…"

* * *

Liu determined that he when he graduated, he would look for the architect of Beacon and calmly ask them why they built such a confusing school. By the time Liu made his third loop in the school, the hallways had been nearly emptied. Now only he and the occasional few students roamed the halls, looking for their next classes. It was times like these where he wished he had the normal hunter strength and speed. Then he would have been able to catch up with the three others. Now, in the process of looking for them, he found himself lost, looking everywhere for the location of his classes.

"Where am I?" Liu took another look at the map, a maze of several floors and buildings all settled down on one paper. In any other subject, Liu had the determination and intelligence to pass with flying colors. But geography? He could barely tell where Vale was in context of Mistral, and that disadvantage seemed to translate to the school map as well. Liu traced the map everywhere, starting with the cafeteria, but had no idea where he was at now. The student had no choice to continue, though, in hopes that he could find a teacher or classmate who could point him in the right direction.

At the realization of that thought, Liu accidently bumped into the back of boy wearing a hat with a green feather in it. The small force, while it did no damage, pushed the other student's hat off, showcasing more of his long brown hair, which was styled into a pony-tail.

Liu, as usual, almost immediately apologized. "Ah, I'm really sorry! I was stuck looking at my map and-"

Somehow, the other student did a 360 and slammed his fist into Liu's cheek in a millisecond, far faster than what he had seen from other Beacon students. Liu found himself staggering backwards while the boy picked his Tyrolean hat off of the ground.

"Now look at what you did," the boy said, still looking away, "You dropped my hat on the ground. I just washed it, too." The student wiped his hat off, but put it under his arm as he turned towards Liu. While he had the same red uniform on as every other student, he had a far more pompous look to him. His tan face, though slightly brighter than Sagitari's, oozed with years of combat training.

Before Liu could say anything else, the student almost immediately came upon him and grabbed his hair by the handful. Liu tried to shake it off, but to no avail. "What is your name?"

Liu painfully responded, "L-liu Xiu. F-from Mistral."

The boy's eyes widened. "Liu Xiu, huh? As in, the son of Kang Xiu, one of the strongest warriors of the East?"

"Y-yeah?" Liu kept trying to open the other student's fist, but to no avail. He hoped that connection would let the teen leave Liu alone.

However, the kid just smirked back. "Can't believe such a powerful fighter bred such a weakling like you. You'd think he would have trained you better. Guess the old man is losing his steam, huh?"

Liu started getting a bit angry. "Hey, don't talk about my father that way," Liu spoke, surprised at his confidence. Sagitari must be rubbing off on him.

The boy finally let go of Liu and pushed him away. "Or what? You'll beat me up? Fine by me. In fact, why don't we have a duel, right here? After all, nobody's watching." He then got into an offensive fighting position against Liu, with a grin on his face.

Liu was thankful, then, when a teacher started walking towards their location. "Hey! What are you kids doing out here?" the teacher yelled across the hall.

The kid, hearing the arrival of a third party, released his stance and turned around, presumably towards his next class. "My name is Athos. Do not forgot my name." After he said his farewell, he parted and walked away from where the teacher was arriving.

"Hey, what were you two doing in the hallway in the middle of class?" the teacher asked again, this time directly behind Liu. However, Liu couldn't take his eyes off of Athos. He would take insults towards him since he believed they weren't all too unfounded. But his family? That was another matter, especially when it came to his father, who worked for the peace of an entire nation. Liu hoped he didn't see Athos again, but he could tell they'd meet once again. When that time came, Liu hoped he would have enough strength to hold his own.

* * *

After finishing the small essay punishment he had received for being thirty minutes late to his first class, Liu and the group stood outside of the dormitories, in a small park that consisted of a few benches and some concrete-made obstacles. The sun had already disappeared, and was replaced by the cracked moon in the sky. Now, the source of light for the four came from the few lamps that surrounded the small circular park. At this time, everyone in the dorm had either gone to bed or no longer walked around outside, which made it perfect for practice.

Despite the change of atmosphere and a different situation, Liu couldn't get his mind off of Athos. That student's aggressive and insulting attitude lit a fuse in his head, and this night of training didn't distract him enough. The fact that he had a bandage where Athos' punch hit him didn't help either, and it only served as a reminder of their conversation.

Unbeknownst to Liu, Sagitari walked towards him and starting talking, giving him a fright. "What's wrong, Liu? You seem distracted."

"Huh? Nothing, nothing!"

Sagitari looked puzzled. Curiously, Orphiucha was the next to push forward. "Look, Lee, you very nearly missed our first class. When you did arrive, you had a big bruise on your cheek and you've been absentminded since."

Liu looked at Ursus, who nodded in agreement. Liu finally gave up his charade. "Well, I got a little lost at first, but then I ran into another student. A student who really wanted to fight me after insulting my dad."

Sagitari turned her head. "Your dad? Is he someone important?"

Liu raised his eyebrow. "Didn't I tell you all that my last name is 'Xiu'? My dad is Kang Xiu, one of the generals of Mistral."

The three's eyes widened in amazement. "Wait, seriously?" Sagitari asked, "It was such a small chance, I just assumed you had the same last name."

Orphiucha continued. "But it turned out you actually are…"

Ursus abnormally spoke. "Kang Xiu's son."

Liu's head lowered. "Don't look at me like that! I'm just a regular student like you three! Well, I guess I'm quite a bit worse…"

Sagitari smiled. "Don't say that! You beat the grimm for us, didn't you?"

"I just created the strategy. You all did the work."

"Well, I'm sure you at least have some skill at fighting! Come on!" Sagitari outstretched her hand in order to lift Liu up, which the kid hesitantly accepted. "How about this? Let's all fight against either other, one-on-one. That way, we can figure out our styles of fighting."

_Oh, boy_, Liu thought to himself. He had about to embarrass himself horribly.

* * *

Liu's first opponent was Ursus. Ursus held his giant spear towards Liu, whose leaf sword was miniscule in comparison. Both sheathed their blades to keep from actually harming one another, but it didn't make Ursus' weapon any less intimidating. Liu, unable to bring himself against the giant red-head, stood back, just out of the spear's range. However, noticing that his opponent was not moving, Ursus made the first move and thrusted forward. Liu barely dodged the first jab, but wasn't fast enough to get out of the way of the second and third. The strength of Ursus shot Liu a good five feet away and landed him on his back. Before Liu could even get back up, Ursus had already brought the end of his sheathed weapon against Liu's neck.

* * *

Liu's second opponent was Orphiucha, whose duel batons had their colors off. Liu, remembering how Ursus was the first to react, tried to be the first to attack. He charged towards Orphiucha, sheathed sword in hand, and attempted to lunge forward in a stabbing attack. However, Orphiucha quickly danced around and, with speed similar to Athos, hit Liu five times as a counterattack, all directed towards his stomach. Liu could barely stand up from the attack, and fell down to his knees, trying to breathe despite the baton slaps on his gut. Seeing her opponent weak, Orphiucha came up and slapped her baton on the back of Liu's neck.

"Stop going for the neck, guys!"

* * *

Finally, Liu had to face Sagitari, who took off her brass knuckles and just fought bare handedly. Liu, tired yet determined, attempted to make the first move against her. Before even moving forward, however, Sagitari made a dash for Liu and put her hand out in the initial shape of a hook punch. The boy instinctively jumped backwards, but doing so only gave Sagitari more ground for moving forward. She, seeing Liu's open torso, threw some more punches, albeit slow ones. There was enough time to pull his torso backwards, but doing so only gave Liu the greatest weakpoint for Sagitari: the chin. The girl, eyes blazing with competition and smile receded, immediately got within a few inches of Liu and threw her fist upwards with a strength unlike the last two. Liu was afraid his head was going to come off of his body when he felt himself get lifted in the air from the punch.

Then, it turned pitch back.

* * *

When Liu came to, his partners were all surrounding him while he laid on a bed in an unfamiliar room.

"Oh, thank goodness! I'm so sorry, Liu. I got too excited," Sagitari spoke with tears in her eyes. The two others had concern in their eyes for their formally unconscious partner.

"What happened? I remember the punch, and then…"

"We took you to the nurse's office," Orphiucha replied, "Luckily, the nurse's semblance can heal wounds, so we let her heal most of your wounds before she went back to bed."

Liu took the time to look around the office. The lightbulbs on the ceiling were the only sources of light, as the darkness of night still perpetuated from the windows. There were a few white beds for sick and hurt students, as well as a few cabinets across the room with various pieces of equipment, and a couch for waiting in front of a desk. On one of the walls, there was a small motivation poster saying "Hang in there!" while a corgi held its paws on top of a tree branch.

"Sorry," Liu spoke up again, "You all saw how bad I was."

"Oh no," Sagitari responded, "You weren't bad. You were… unlearned, is all."

Liu sighed and looked towards the window outside. "It's funny. I want to be a hunter, but I just don't have the abilities at all. I'm sorry for weighing you three down."

Liu expected there to be silence, or another excuse from Sagitari. This was how it always turned out.

Instead, he was met with harsh words from Sagitari. "Don't say that, Liu. Don't you DARE say that!"

"W-what?"

"Liu, I simply saw an inexperienced, and untrained, student out there. Did you not dodge Ursus' attack? Did you not dodge my first attack? Liu, stop trying to pity yourself, because I know there's something in you. Some talent. Just… don't give up yet."

Liu was speechless at the serious, and angry, Sagitari in front of him. She had tears, but this time, they were of frustration. "I'm sorry, Sagitari! I shouldn't have said that."

Sagitari wiped her eyes. "Look, Liu, we aren't going to give up on you simply because you're not that good. If we did, our team would easily lose in the first round of the tournament! You have a good brain, so now we'll build the body you need to equalize it. So here's what we're going to do: We're going to do group exercises every morning, then we'll do weapon training every night."

"Err… what?"

"Liu, didn't you say you wanted to be a hunter?"

"Yeah, I did, but-"

Sagitari reverted back to her usual cheery self at the drop of a hat. "Then you're going to need to start putting in effort! Come on, on three! One, two, three! Go team SOUL!"

No one said it with Sagitari this time, though everyone, even Orphiucha, put their fists up in agreement.

After Sagitari's cheer, Orphiucha spoke next. "Anyways, Sagitari and I were talking, and we also decided you need an auxiliary weapon."

"An auxiliary weapon?"

Sagitari spoke up again. "Oh, you know. Like how Orphiucha can put dust canisters in her batons. Similar to that, my brass knuckles can change into small pistols, and Ursus' spear can… Ursus, what can your spear do?"

Ursus took his spear out of his sheath and put his hand directly below the sharp end. With a small pull, the end came off, revealing an iron chain that connected the spear's blade with the shaft.

"Oh, that. So see? An auxiliary weapon or secondary form is almost necessary for hunters now. That isn't to say that skill isn't more important, but if two hunters with the same skill meet, the victory will go to the better weapon."

Liu got a little defensive. "But my sword was wielded by my grandfather! I don't think I could let it go."

Sagitari put her hand on Liu's shoulder. "Liu, we aren't asking you to remove your sword. In fact, your sword is made of a very strong metal. Rather, we want you to get another weapon with it."

Liu scratched his head. "But how do I do that?"

Suddenly, Sagitari's eyes glowed with anticipation. "Oh, oh, oh! We can go to the weapon's shop in town this weekend! I love going there!"

Orphiucha rolled her eyes. "It's a shame you haven't been kicked out of there. You always go there."

Sagitari frowned. "C'mon. Liu hasn't been there yet! It'll be a fresh start for him!" She turned back towards him. "So, what do you think?"  
"Err… sure, I suppose. If it makes me a better hunter."

"Then it's settled, Liu! We're going to the weapons shop this weekend! On three! One! Two! Three!"

Sagitari raised her fist in the hair and yelled "Team Soul!" No one joined her.

* * *

(Author's note: How are you doing? Thanks for giving _RWBY: Revenant _a read! If you enjoy it, why don't you give a follow? Similarly, provide me with some constructive criticism so I can get better at writing, I guess. I don't know, it's night where I'm at, so I'm tired. But hey, before I fall asleep typing this out, here are a few things: After this pair of chapters, uploads will slow down a bit. Not horribly slow, but just about weekly posts rather than every few days. And sorry if these chapters seemed a little sloppy. I didn't have much time, and I wanted to get them out before the weekend ended. I promise I will put in the a lot more care into my chapters! So anyways, thanks again for readinggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg (This is where I fake fall asleep for the joke.))


	9. Chapter 9: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 9: After – The Things We Lose

"Man, I can't believe I'm meeting the leader of Menagerie. It's like a dream," Soul said sarcastically as he walked around the room he was in.

_Take this seriously, Soul. You do realize you're in a bit of trouble, right?_

It had been twenty minutes since Soul arrived in the study. After walking with the police force back to the mansion of the Belladonna's, which was explained to be the house of the original White Fang's leader, Soul was thrown in this room and told to wait. So to pass the time, Soul took to observing the area around him, as he assumed the voice would want to look around at the unique Menagerie architecture some more. On the walls were shelves upon shelves of books surrounding a small area of two chairs, a couch, and a table, all of which rested on a soft fur rug. At each corner of the room were columns that more so resembled a tree trunk rather than chiseled wood, encircled by foliage and greenery that wouldn't be at all common in a Mistral home. At the end of the room stood a little square alcove containing a large desk, which Soul assumed Ghira spent most of him time at work, as a large television displaying a Remnant map rested directly behind that.

The voice spoke up once more. _Be ready, Ghira Belladonna believes in peace, but that doesn't mean he's a push-over. He's still as stubborn and tough a customer as he was many years back._

"So he may know about Adam?"

_That's not what I meant! _The voice was then abruptly interrupted by the sound of the door opening. _Soul, we'll talk later, okay? _

In from the door came a big, burly man with a large, black beard and yellow eyes. He wore a large fur coat that opened up his furry, almost cat-like, hair on his chest. You almost wouldn't believe he was a faunus if it wasn't for the strange slits on his fingers. Just his figure greatly intimidated Soul, who could barely look the man in the eyes. When he did, however, he found Ghira with a very disapproving face, indicated that he knew of Soul's interrogations in the city. Once he came in, he strode over to one of the chairs with papers in his hands, and motioned for Soul to do the same.

"So, why is a person like you walking around asking where a faunus criminal is in a city of faunus?" he asked as Soul made his way to the other chair in a far faster manner.

"Well, here's the thing: I'm a hunter and-"

"Liu Xiu," the man said as he looked at his stack of papers, "You came from Beacon. If that's true, you're far too young to be a hunter."

Soul looked down, speechless. He should have known the head of Menagerie would have information like that.

"Do you know the ramifications for what you've done? Posing as a hunter without a license? Disturbing the peace in this city? Son, I'm not sure if you know, but there are even records of what you've done in Vale."

Again, Soul kept his eyes to the ground. While he knew fighting the bandits wasn't illegal, he couldn't shake off the sting of guilt when Ghira mentioned it.

Ghira, seeing how intimidated Soul was, took off his glasses and relaxed his facial expression. "Xiu, huh? Your father was a great supporter of the White Fang when I led it. He always did his best to protect the faunus in his country. Hell, Kang even took part in some of the peaceful protests, despite his rank. He always did the best he could and saw faunus as equals, and for that, I respe-."

"Don't. Don't compare me to him. He was there when the Fall happened. But did he save Beacon? No." Soul gave up on his charade. All he left behind were his true colors.

"Liu-"

"Please, call me Soul."

Ghira stopped for a second at the interruption. "…Liu, the Atlas military was there, and even they couldn't stop it. Your father may be a powerful general, but what makes you think he could fare any better?"

Soul keep his focus on the ground, his fingers laced together. "He could be out there looking for the perpetrators."

"What? You think he should be hunting Adam out of revenge? Like you are?"

Soul kept silent.

"Liu, I may not have known Orphiucha, but do you think she would want you acting like this? Do you think she would want you stooping to Adam's level in order to kill him?"

Soul clenched his hands into fists. "How do you know, huh? What, you think the papers in your hand tell my whole life's story?"

Ghira sighed and put his papers down. "Liu, I'm a faunus. Not a day goes by that I don't feel anger or bitterness towards humans that look down on us. Not a day goes by that I don't feel hatred and want, more than anything, to get back at those humans who use faunus for their awful goals. But do you know why I continue to turn to peace rather than war? Because I don't let it consume me!" Soul finally looked up to find an empathetic Ghira with eyes of pity.

"So please, listen to a faunus who's familiar with hatred. Revenge isn't the answer. Revenge will take everything out of you, and leave you a shell of what you once were. Finally, once it eats you up, it'll spread like a virus to those you've effected. Liu, people like us need to end this cycle of hatred and violence, and we can only do it through giving forgiveness to those who don't deserve it, even if it hurts. Do you understand?"

Soul turned back down to the ground.

Seeing his conversation partner wouldn't answer, Ghira sighed regretfully and stood up from his chair. "I don't want you asking about Adam anymore, so I'm putting you in the guest room here. I've already talked with the boat captain who brought you here, and he agreed to take you to Mistral tomorrow. Once you've made it to the port city there, your father will meet you and pick you up. You should be glad he's willing to bail you out for your crimes."

Soul was about to speak, but Ghira quickly shut him up. "Liu, please. From the suggestion of a father, just go back home. You're too young for the mission you're trying to attempt, and I don't think you'd want Kang to see what you could become. Go to sleep, and we'll go to the port tomorrow morning. Oh, and don't worry about your friend. He's in his own guest room as well."

Soul was rendered speechless again, and Ghira left the kid to his own devices.

* * *

Soul sat on a chair, looking out at the city from the window of his guest room. Being situated in a simple, albeit cozy, guest room with a few pieces of furniture didn't give him many options to pass the time. Thus, he found looking at the port city to be his primary time-waster before bed tonight. He was trying to guess what everyone down there was doing now. Some were probably cooking dinner. Others were playing with their friends. Some had already fallen asleep. Soul wished so much that he could be like that, and he hated Ghira for making him even more envious.

_Soul, are you okay? _

The voice's many appearances made the kid immune to its surprise, so he didn't flinch when she arrived. "Do you think what I'm doing is right?"

The voice thought for a second, then responded, _No, I don't._

"Then why are you still with me? I thought you said a long time ago you could leave whenever you wanted?"

_Soul, I told you this before. I'm always on your side, even if I don't agree with you. But do you think what you're doing is right?_

Soul, curious at the question, thought for a bit. Did he think what he was doing is right? Before, he would have easily said "yes," but after his chat with Ghira, he wasn't so sure anymore. "I… don't know. I firmly believe that I'm fighting evil. That I'm protecting citizens by hunting down Adam, Cinder, and that other woman. But…"

_But?_

Soul put his head in his hands in mortification. "I almost killed a child! I would have let that faunus kill Jahr, just for some information! If it wasn't for the police force, he would have died! Not to mention those two White Fang members prior to Menagerie. How old am I? Eighteen! And I've already soaked my hands in blood!"

_Soul, I've told you, I'm on your side still._

"Even when I was going to let a kid die?"

The voice froze for a moment. _Even then. Soul, everyone needs someone to lean on, and I won't leave you. But please, listen to Ghira._

Soul tried to take that to heart. He wanted more than anything to throw away his quest. He wanted to make peace with his past and return to his family, leaving the job to other, more qualified hunters. But how could he? How could he leave such an important and personal job to those who weren't involve? What, leave it to his father? The man who did nothing while Beacon was being destroyed? Besides, how could he forget Orphiucha and Ursus?

How could he leave Sagitari as she was?

* * *

**Two months ago**

Liu stood at the side of Sagitari's hospital bed, only hours after he woke up himself. He could only stare, speechless, at the lifeless body in front of him. If it wasn't for the machine monitoring her heart-rate, Liu would have believed her to be dead. Though her eyelids were shut tight, her lips were kept in a smile, as Sagitari would always look. Her brown hair, even longer after months of sleep, was perfectly spread out around her and nearly covered her shoulders.

"…Tari?" Liu muttered. He kept staring, unsure if he was joyful or sad beyond belief. The confusion of emotions proved too much for him, though, and Liu buckled under the weight of it. He bent down still holding the side of Sagitari's bed, but he found that his legs had no strength to lift him back up. So, the young man simply crouched down at the side of Sagitari's white hospital bed, unable to hold back tears of both happiness and immense sadness.

"She isn't dead. She isn't dead!" Liu kept saying to himself. However, he always found himself to be a cynic, and even in this situation, he only saw her as stuck in an endless sleep. She wasn't dead, sure, but what else could she be?

"The doctors said they don't know when she'll wake up, if she even does!"

_Liu, she's still alive_, the new voice in his head said. It made him jump, hearing it for the first time out of his dreams.

"Is she? I… I'm so confused." Even Liu's arms lost their strength, and all he could do now was shift around and sit down with his back against Sagitari's bed. Liu hoped that Sagitari would wake up at any moment. But, no movement came from the bed in a minute. No movement came from the bed in two minutes. Three minutes. Four. Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten. Ten minutes had passed, and Liu heard no movement come from the top of the bed. It was then Liu came to realize that no matter how long he sat down, she wouldn't get up. She would remain sleeping until the end of time, and such a fate caused him to think again about Ursus and Orphiucha.

Unlike Sagitari, they were gone forever. Dead. Passed on.

Liu brought his knees up to his chest and let tears stream from his eyes. He cried for Ursus. He cried for Orphiucha. He cried for Sagitari. His best friends. All gone. Sagitari may be alive still, but only in body. Who knew if she would even get off of the bed? Liu's tears didn't express his sadness enough, and soon, he turned to punching. Punching at his shortcomings, and his inability to save them. He slammed his fist against the wall next to the bed each time any sort of self-loathing simmered. He truly hated himself for what had happened, and all he could do was express it through violence.

However, his newfound strength after bonding with the voice shook the wall more than he thought it would, and the mirror that hung on the wall came crashing down onto the ground, making Liu freeze at the impact. The glass splattered everywhere, even going as far as the end of the room where the hallway door was. Some even stuck themselves into Liu's left hand, which had been resting on the ground.

"Ah!" Liu immediately pulled his hand up, shaking it as a reaction towards the neuron sparks in his arm. It was good to know that his emotional pain didn't numb his physical pain. After the small shake, Liu grabbed the moderately sized piece from the side of his palm and yanked it out. In doing so, however, he was able to get a good look at himself in the mirror shard. His long hair was disheveled beyond repair. He had bags upon bags under his eyes. His entire face was moist with the stream of his tears. He was disgusted with how he looked, the same crybaby as he always was. He loses the friends, and he reverts back to the same Liu before arriving at Beacon?

No. He would no longer be that coward. Liu would only cry. Liu would forget his friends and return back home. Liu wouldn't fight for justice. Liu wouldn't deal with the anger in him. Liu had to be gone. Instead, he latched onto the new, blue iris in his eyes.

_Liu, are you okay? _The voice asked.

"Don't call me Liu anymore." The kid formally known as Liu, given the burden of life, found a different strength return to his muscles, enough so that he could stand up. He pulled himself off of the dirty floor, and look back at Sagitari, the fearless leader of their squad, who continued smiling even in unconsciousness. That was her: Even in the worst of times, she would always have the widest grin. He needed that smile. Wiping the tears off his face, the boy practiced the friendly smile he had always seen from her. The smile that would always warm his heart. Even if he didn't mean it, the smile gave him a reminder of his mission: He would bring Team SOUL's murderers to justice. Being the last active member forced that role onto him, he believed.

The one no longer known as Liu took one last look at Sagitari, trying to frame her sleeping face in his head before walking towards the door. He had a mission. Best not wait any longer.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I can't give up," Soul said to the voice, "I just… I can't."

_I understand. But Soul? Please, only do what's necessary._

"I always do what's necessary."

_You should know what I mean, Soul. _

Soul got up from the chair and walked back to his bag. He quickly strapped the sword sheaths on his hips and got up towards the window. "Sorry, but if _that's_ what you think is unnecessary, I'm may need to do something against your wishes tonight."

With that sentence, he closed his eyes and turned on the electric semblance in his head, sensing all of the static electricity in the city. With so many bodies, it was rather difficult to pinpoint what he was looking for, but eventually he found a group of seven faunus, two of which were badly hurt, sitting in a locked room. Soul opened his eyes back up and quickly shot his scarf out around the closest palm tree from his window. With the scarf secure, he activated his semblance once more and pulled his body towards the tree. He wanted to hurry, though, so he immediately grabbed the next tree and launched himself much further. He had a mission to complete.

He had a burden to bear.

* * *

"This sucks! We weren't the ones who started that fight in the first place! It was that crazy human!" the group member with a cast around his arm yelled while slamming his foot into the jail bed. The one with the broken jaw nodded in agreement.

The seven now rested in a jail cell with four bunk beds against two of the walls in an L shape. On the third wall was a toilet and sink for the group, though because the flush was broken, no one attempted to use it. Past the fourth wall, or rather the jail bars, was a small section where the guard would have watched the prisoners behind a desk, but the one who was there disappeared thirty minutes prior. There were a couple of windows, as well, but they were just touching the ceiling a good five yards in the air, just above the gang's reach from the top bunks. Even then, the windows were covered with their own bars, so escape was impossible until release time tomorrow. It was a temporary holding cell for them, but it didn't make the experience any more aggravating for the seven.

Mick laid on his side on the bed with the same anger, but it was usurped by an unsettling feeling, as if he felt the presence of the man still with them. "Just go to sleep, Jimmy. We'll be out tomorrow," Mick said.

Some of the gang members followed his order and laid down on their beds, but it didn't matter: Mick couldn't relax laying in his bed, and he could tell the six others couldn't either. Perhaps the arrival of a hunter scared them too much. Perhaps it was the sight of seeing a human they beat up arrive at their doorstep. But, there was something that made fear reside in their hearts. Annoyed, Mick put the pillow on his head and shut his eyes, trying to get a good night's sleep before release.

However, the sound of a scream quickly reached his ears.

"What the-," Mick said as he pulled up the pillow and jumped off his mattress. Five others did the same. The sixth member was currently hung upside down in front of the jail bars, a metallic, bendable object holding his leg up. At the other end of the object was the same man as before, standing just beyond the barricade and in the shadows. He quickly put his hand on the man's back through the bars and, before anyone could move towards the hunter, somehow caused a violent shock to occur, lighting up the room. The gang member barely even made a sound, and became highly lethargic after it ended.

"Hey, what did you do to my pal?" Mick still had the confidence to approach the hunter, perhaps due to the cylindrical metal pipes keeping him safe. It wasn't until the hunter took a sword out and held it against the back of the unconscious faunus' neck that Mick froze.

"Good, good," he said after confirming Mick wasn't moving, "Now, friend, I want answers. Tell the truth, and I let your lackey go. Tell a lie, and he dies. Okay?"

Mick nodded. He tried his hardest to both keep himself from trying to attack the hunter through the bars out of anger and keep the hunter from hurting his friend.

"I only have one question: Do you know where Adam is?"

Mick shook his head.

The hunter looked at the faunus for a while. "You aren't lying. But you aren't telling the truth either, are you?"

Mick shook his head again.

"Then tell me what you know, or he dies." The human put pressure on the sword, showing he meant business. The hostage, while he didn't make a vocal sound, wrinkled his unconscious face in displeasure.

Mick, rather than trying to get out of the interrogation with a lie, told the full truth. "I don't know where Adam is, but we know where Adam will be. He's planning to attack Haven academy in a few weeks."

The man looked at Mick for a while. Once he confirmed the truth using whatever method he had, he commanded his metal device to let go of his hostage and return to his sleeve. With the information he wanted, the hunter turned towards the door and started walking.

"Hey," Mick said, "I'm only telling you this because I know for a fact you can't beat Adam. He's way too strong."

The man stopped and turned his head. "We'll see about that."

"I'm telling you! When you fight Adam, you'll die! Do you hear me? You'll die, just like how you deserve! You filthy-" The scarf shot out from the hunter's sleeve and shut Mick up by grabbing his neck.

"Tell anyone about what happened here, and I promise you, you'll be the ones to die before I 'die' from Adam. Got it?"

Mick, back in a fearful state, nodded. At the sight of that, the scarf was gently removed from his neck and placed back in the hunter's sleeve. Silence accompanied the following footsteps he took to leave the room. The door opened and the hunter left, leaving an angry, but fearful, gang.

Mick stared for a small while before turning to his bed. "Alright, gang, let's go to sleep."

"Aren't we going to do something, boss? He knows about Adam!"

He turned to the direction of the speaker. "I wasn't bluffing when I said he'll die by Adam. We may not be able to hurt that guy, but he can. Now go to sleep!"

The five nodded, three of which went to their beds, while two others picked up the unconscious hostage and returned him to a bottom bunk. After making sure everyone was settled, Mick sat down at the bottom bunk furthest to the right of the room and thought. The hunter did indeed scare him, but he couldn't help but smile. He knew that once the hunter met Adam, he would lose. Sure, the hunter could beat up the gang, but he couldn't fight the man who attacked a school of would-be hunters and huntresses, and won. Mick, satisfied in this belief, laid down on his bed and closed his eyes.

He found peace knowing the hunter would die facing Adam.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello, how is everyone doing? Thanks for reading _RWBY: Revenant_ thus far! Oh yeah, I should note: In a previous chapter, I wrote "laky" instead of "lackey," so sorry about that! Why don't I go ahead and change it rather than point it out? Because I'm lazy, that's why! Anyways, if you're reading despite my mess-up, thanks very much! Why don't you give the story a follow if you like it? That's all, I guess... Yep! Thanks for reading _Revenant_!)


	10. Chapter 10: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 10: Before – Semblance

"Come on, guys! Let's go faster!"

One had to wonder how Sagitari had such endless energy. She would wake up after only four hours of sleep, exercise another five, and still walk far faster than Liu, Ursus, and Orphiucha.

Liu, after hearing the plan for catching up on his fighting skills, felt some determination towards the work he needed to put into it. So, he woke up right on time for the first day of group exercise, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Then, the workout happened. In all aspects of his life, Liu had never experienced such pain.

Liu literally had to have Sagitari pull him around the entire school that day, as every muscle in his body wouldn't accept his request for movement, like they had become skeptical after such overuse. By the end of the week, however, the pain subsided from inability to move, to immense pain after every step. It was still awful beyond any reason, of course, but at least Liu could move. Orphiucha and Ursus were having a better time with the group exercises, though the Sagitari treatment still tired them out. That made Liu feel a little better, though he felt a little guilty thinking that. Yet, despite the horrible pain that came with the exercises, Liu and the two others could never find themselves a shortcut through it all. When he trained before Beacon, he always took it easy and managed to hide it from the instructor's watching eyes. With Sagitari, even though she had to be the stupidest student at Beacon, she had the eyes of an eagle. She watched actively every morning, making sure none of the three broke off from their sets. It was as if she was two people: one serious warrior when fighting was related, and one carefree girl during any other time. Such a change instilled a comical ambivalence in the three, and made them feel guilt at even the slightest idea of skipping a single push-up. Even Orphiucha, who was the loudest voice of opposition, ended up completing each session in its entirety. But all in all, Liu seriously hoped he would never have to experience anything worse than Sagitari's workouts.

Now, with the first week of school over, the four had decided to go into town to find Liu an auxiliary weapon. Or rather, Sagitari pulled the three out of bed, and made them struggle to walk behind her. Still, it was fun seeing the group wearing something other than the typical uniforms. Orphiucha took to wearing a blue button-up shirt with a black skirt and a sun hat. Ursus wore a large t-shirt with a popular cartoon character on the front, though Liu couldn't place a name on it, over blue boot-cut jeans. Sagitari wore her jorts under a somewhat puffy, purple shirt. Liu took the cue and wore something very casual: a stripped t-shirt with shorts. Liu quite liked the change, and it felt like the group was getting closer in a way without involving destructive exercise. That didn't mean he enjoyed going out while sore, though.

"Come on, guys! We don't have all day," Sagitari said, spinning in the streets with a grin on her face while waiting for her team to close in. People were giving her stares and making Liu feel embarrassed having a relationship with her.

"I can't do this," Liu grumbled as he waddled forward, just behind Ursus and a very tired Orphiucha.

Orphiucha agreed with a moan of exhaustion. The three tried to avoid looking at their childish leader, but that only gave her the element of surprise. Sagitari instantaneously jumped in front of Liu, forcing him to lose balance. Without so much as a touch, he fell on his hind-quarters with a small yelp.

"Man, you fall down a lot, Liu!" Sagitari still had the customary friendly grin on her face.

"It's not my fault, I'm just a little sore. It's tough doing… uh… Hey, Sagitari, can you help me up? I can't stand up." Liu found that his legs gave up on him again. He tried very hard to get up, but the muscles in his legs screams so loudly, they refused to heed his call.

Sagitari put her hands on her hips. "Sheesh, you're really out of shape, huh, Liu?" Suddenly, she gasped as if she had an idea. "Hey! I know what to do."

She put her hand out to Liu, who, while skeptical of her plan, gracefully accepted it. However, the instant they touched, Sagitari pulled Liu so hard, he actually flew a couple of feet in the air. Once he was air-borne, Sagitari turned around and had him land just shy of her back. She took this chance to loop her arms around Liu's legs, forcing him to grab her shoulders.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Giving you a piggy-back ride! That way we can run faster!"

"Run?"

Sagitari, without so much as a reply, dashed headfirst into the crowd in front of her.

"Sagi…tari….stop!" Unfortunately, Liu's plead for her was far too quiet to hear, and she continued her romp down the street, towards the weapons shop several blocks down.

* * *

The weapons shop looked like your average hole-in-the-wall store. Except that it sold weapons.

Swords, lances, scythes, guns, it had everything you wouldn't want your everyday citizen carrying in the streets. The walls were filled to the brim with every sort of deadly device only hunters should be carrying. In the center of it all stood one large shotgun-great sword floating in a crystal case, constantly switching between its primary and secondary form in slow motion. As expected from a hunter-only shop, the place was nearly barren, save for the old, balding man in the back and a single, unfamiliar hunter who was trying to decide between getting a set of daggers that fused into nunchakus or a short sword that split off into machine pistols.

"Hello!" Sagitari gave her customary wave and smile once she and her nearly dead team caught the shop owner's attention. The man gave the same kind of greeting back as he leapt over the counter top.

"Well, Tari! I'm glad to see you got a team at Beacon!" His voice spoke with the same sort of volume as his conversation partner.

"Aw, Gramps, everyone gets a team at Beacon! Anyways, how's the shop going?"

"It could be better, but I can't complain! I just wish these phonies would stop trying to steal some weapons!"

"Phonies?" Liu interrupted.

"Oh, yes! They think it's cool to have a hunter weapon without a license! The nerve of some people! Like this guy!" The old man then proceeded to grab a rapier off the wall and look at the other hunter in the store. "Hey, phony! Get out of here before I take your leg off!"

"But, I'm actually a-"

"En garde!" The old man then made a run for the fearful hunter. The younger man immediately dropped the weapons he was looking at and made a sprint for the door. The old man followed out.

"So, the old, paranoid, and crazy man's shop is still open," Orphiucha stated, "Great."

"Well, let's look around, Liu!" Sagitari then guided him to a set of smaller weapons while Orphiucha and Ursus checked out the larger blades. Pistols, daggers, ninja stars, everything Liu could imagine as a method of killing was there, laying on top of a red, fancy pillow. Liu picked up some, examining their weight and feel. He took a look at the pistol, which had engravings indicating where the dust ammunition would go in. He handled a smaller sword that transformed itself into a flare gun when touched near the base of the handle. He even gave the ninja stars a quick look, but they just felt off to him. However, Sagitari took his curiousity as interest.

"Hey, Liu!" Sagitari said as she hopped to the other side of the shop, near the counter. She pulled on a rope hanging from the ceiling, revealing an old paper target with holes upon holes throughout it. "Put on the glove next to it! It makes them come back to you after you throw them!"

Liu took a look at the single ninja star he grabbed from the set of five. "Alright, let me give this a try," he said.

He took the leathery glove out of its case and slid it onto his left hand. He then put the thin blade in between his index finger and thumb and examined the target in front of him. Carefully, he swung his arm forwards and backwards to check the weight, and after making sure the area in front of him was clear, he gave the star a toss. Unfortunately, he let go too late, and the blade went almost perpendicular from the target towards Orphiucha, who was examining various helmets. Before anyone, even Orphiucha, reacted, the ninja star impaled itself just left of her head, into the wall. She jolted at the sound of the impact and flinched backwards.

"Liu," she said as she slowly turned towards him. Her annoyance transformed into anger, and it looked as if her eyes glowed with fire. "Watch where you throw those things!"

"I'm sorry!" Liu incidentally raised his left hand up towards her, but doing so activated the magnets inside both the ninja star and the glove. Suddenly, the star pulled itself out of the wall and came barreling directly for Liu's hand. With a scream, he ducked and heard the star's impact yet again, this time into the wall behind Liu.

"Okay," Liu said as he cautiously stood up, "Maybe ninja stars aren't for me."

* * *

After trying fruitlessly to work the various secondary weapons Liu could handle, the four retired to a quaint outdoor restaurant, sitting at a small circular table with an umbrella over it, near the edge of the fenced-in seating area. They had since ordered their food, and spent the time sipping their drinks. All around the area, people were laughing and chatting, except for Team SOUL. It wasn't out of unfamiliarity with one another, but Ursus' automatic silence, Orphiucha's unwillingness to speak in a friendly tone, and Liu's displeasure towards his inability to wield another weapon kept the group rather quiet.

Well, there was one person who kept Team SOUL from remaining in complete silence. Sagitari, as always, voiced her opinions and thoughts like a radio. "Don't get too disheartened, Liu! So ninja stars weren't your thing! Neither were daggars."

"Or guns," Liu stated bitterly.

"Or anything else," Orphiucha harshly joked.

Liu looked at Orphiucha with a grated stare, which she sent back. "Look," he continued, "How did you all even figure out what kind of weapon you wanted?"

Orphiucha was the first to talk. "Two are better than one, right? Besides, these batons work best for both close range and long range, if you remember during that grimm fight."

Ursus spoke only two words. "I'm big."

Sagitari, finally, finished up the interview. "Well, my coach gave it to me when she was thinking about weapons that would work best with my semb- Oh! Liu, what's your semblance?"

Liu felt uncomfortable bringing that up, so he returned the question with a nervous smile. "Actually, what is everyone else's? I want to hear that first."

Sagitari raised her hand. "Ooo! Me!"

"O-okay?" Liu said as he took a look around to make sure no one was staring.

Sagitari took a deep breath, then grabbed Liu's arm. The touch bewildered him more than it should, and he quickly fretted over it. "W-what are you doing, Sagitari?"

Sagitari put her finger up with her other hand to quiet him down, and went back to her focus. At first, Liu didn't notice any sort of change in his body. Yet, as he sat, he started feeling… stronger. As if the hell Sagitari cutely called "exercise" had actually succeeded, and Liu had grown in strength. Indeed, to everyone's surprise, his arm grew in muscle mass, and Liu felt far more confident. Almost as if he could handle a grimm himself.

"I can also do this, Liu!" With the same touch, all the muscle in Liu's arm receded almost instantly, and a very large amount of flabby skin was left. At the sight of such a change, Orphiucha started laughing, followed by a smiling Ursus. Sagitari, once she let go, started laughing too.

"Hey! Don't laugh! And Sagitari, what did you do? My arm! It's-" By the end of his sentence, the arm had already regained the strength it lost. The flabbiness somehow gradually lost its volume and was replaced by the same old Liu arm: not too strong, not too weak.

"Huh?" Liu, as well as Ursus, was flabbergasted.

Sagitari grinned while putting her hands behind her head. "Well? What do you think?"

"W-what just happened?" Liu asked, trying to wrap his mind around what occurred.

"Well, what happened is that I…. uh… Orphiucha, can you explain for me? You always know the science words!"

The girl rolled her eyes and opened her mouth. "Tari's semblance allows her to manipulate hormones in both herself and others. She can only do it when she touches people, though, which is why she uses brass knuckles."

"Yeah, that! Remember when I touched your shoulder before the test in the forest? I did the stuff Orphiucha said and made you less afraid!"

"So, it's not just strength, like what you did with my arm just now, but emotions, too?"

"Yep! It also allows me to exercise a lot and save it for when I use my semblance."

"Well, that explains a lot," Liu muttered to himself. It did seem strange how she's able to get through the group exercises, then not only going throughout the entire school day without any soreness, but also doing her own exercises at the same time. "Anyways, what about you Ursus?"

Ursus nodded, then got off of his chair. He put his finger to the cobblestone ground and closed his eyes. Alongside a spark of light, the area he touched grew a short spear. Once the entire thing was complete, Ursus put it down by his feet. After that, he took the napkin from the table and stuck it in between his two hands. With another spark, Ursus revealed that the napkin no longer had the rectangular shape, but was now perfectly folded into a paper swan. He put it down in front of his glass of water.

"Oh, so you can morph one thing into another?"

Ursus shook his head, then looked around, trying to find a way of explaining his seemingly complex semblance. Once he saw the spear he made, however, he quickly picked it up and put it on the table, near Liu.

"You want me to touch it?"

Ursus nodded.

Liu and Sagitari both put their fingers on the makeshift weapon, feeling it from top to bottom. Interestingly enough, the spear wasn't made of typical material like iron or steel. No, instead the spear was made of the exact same cobblestone as the ground below them.

"Oh, so you can make something into something else. It just has to remain the same material that you created?"

Ursus pointed and nodded, very happy at his teammate's detective reasoning. Once he was satisfied, Ursus sat back down at his chair and took the spear off the table. He laid the weapon flush beside his chair and activated the semblance once more, this time causing the creation to meld with its origin once more. In a mere moment, the spear no longer existed and had fully conjoined with the ground.

Liu hesitantly turned from him to Orphiucha. "So… Orphiucha. What's your semblance?"

"I don't have one," Orphiucha said, looking uninterested in the conversation with her eyes down.

"You don't have one!? C'mon, everyone must have one, right?"

Orphicha looked up at Liu with an annoyed expression. "What did I just say? I don't have one!"

Liu looked over at Sagitari for confirmation. She just shrugged back, though Liu could tell she was obviously hiding something about Orphiucha. Before he could ask, though, Sagitari quickly asked the fateful question. "So Liu, what's your semblance?"

Liu sighed in response, but conceded to show them his power. He gave his palms a little rub to charge it up before touching Orphiucha's hand with his index finger. Once the two were physically touching, Liu activated his semblance.

And mildly shocked her with static electricity.

Orphiucha pulled her hand back in disgust towards the touch rather than the shock. "So what? You can shock people at will?"

Liu gave a dejected look. "Yes, and not an actual shock. It's just a simple static electric shock. Well… I guess it's a little different. It's like… I feel electricity inside me, but I can't get it out unless I'm actually touching something. When I'm touching someone, though, the shock doesn't get much worse than getting shocked by static electricity on metal. It won't come out as a projectile either."

Liu expected another pity party. After all, he had another reason why he was just weighing Team SOUL down. Yet, Sagitari immediately came up with an idea rather than an unfounded apology. "Why does it need to come out?"

"Huh?"

"Well, why don't you put the electricity anywhere else rather than towards your hands? It could make you stronger!"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Liu responded.

Orphiucha translated. "She means you can put the electricity inside of different areas in your body. I think Tari also means that if you put it in your muscles, it could stimulate them enough to make you stronger."

"Yeah, that's what I mean! Try it out, Liu!"

"I- I'll give it an attempt." Liu closed his eyes, imagining the center of his body as the source of his electric semblance. Like he usually did with shocking someone, he tried to move the electricity towards his right arm, which he laid down on the table. However, he stopped moving his semblance before it reached the elbow. With a deep breath, Liu made both the muscle and the semblance touch, causing something within Liu's arm to occur. In a jolt, the arm shot across the table, punching the water he was drinking straight across the restaurant into the road thirty feet back. The entire team looked in shock as the cup got run over by a car.

"Huh."

"That's… interesting."

"Smooth move, Leen."

"It's Liu!"

Sagitari snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Liu, I know of a great secondary weapon for you!"

"What is it?"

Sagitari smiled and put her finger towards her lips. "It's a surprise! But I'll tell you this: it will work with your semblance."

"Err, Tari, don't we have the first official sparing day this coming week?" Orphiucha asked, somewhat concerned even if she didn't show it on her face.

"It's fine," she responded, "I'll give it to him before his match begins! What do you think, Liu? …Liu?"

Liu kept looking at his arm, which seemed to involuntarily swing around when it mixed with his electricity. He didn't expect something like that to occur, and when it did, the force he expended didn't equate to his regular strength. He was positive without his semblance active, that cup would have only gone about six feet. So, what's the truth about his semblance? He had no idea what to think.

Sagitari, seeing his confusion, put her hand on his right arm. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just… amazed. I thought my semblance was stuck to one usage my entire life, and you figured it out in just a few seconds!"

Orphiucha laughed. "Don't think too much about it, Liu," she finally said correctly, "Tari may be an idiot, but when it comes to fighting and huntress topics, she's a genius. She can figure out how semblances work after just a few minutes of fighting."

"But how?"

Both girls remained quiet, looking uncomfortable. Then, Ursus was the next to talk, strangely, revealing yet again his hoarse voice. "You aren't worthless, Liu. See?"

"I'm… Thanks, Ursus."

Ursus responded with a simple nod, as he always did.

"Yeah, he's right, Liu. You're a vital part of this team, and we'll unravel your semblance together! Alright, everyone! On the count of three! One. Two.

At the count of three, Liu and Sagitari cheered their Team SOUL cheer out loud, while Orphiucha muttered it quietly. However, they all had their fists up. While it had its ups and downs, this team was solid, and Liu found himself happy to be with these three, even Orphiucha. It was then that he found himself thinking that being with them for the rest of his years in Beacon wouldn't be the worst idea.

He found himself looking forward to knowing them his entire school career.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading _RWBY: Revenant_ so far! If you like it, why don't you give the story a follow? Here's a few fun things to talk about, too: Being sick isn't fun. Ugh. Literally, every time I wake up, I feel just awful. It won't mess up the writing, though! Also, what does everyone think about a Seinfeld-RWBY crossover, where the Seinfeld crew is in the RWBY world? Because.. well... I got bored, and I started laughing at the idea. Next thing I know, I've written an entire twenty page crappy story about Kramer finding a dust mine under the school, George cheating on his essays in one of the professor's classes, and Jerry and Elaine making a bet to see who can find out their dating partner's semblance first. I have no idea why I wrote it... but I wrote it. So, maybe I'll release it in the future... maybe. Anyways, thanks for reading _Revenant,_ and God bless!


	11. Chapter 11: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 11: After – Seeing Old Friends

"Sorry I'm late!" Soul ran outside of the mansion, where Ghira's security officers were waiting for their person of interest. The fake hunter had just finished a training session with the voice, which forced him to sleep a little longer than usual. Once he woke up, though, he rushed, barely even able to brush his teeth or comb his hair before heading to the house door. The two chaperons looked rather peeved at waiting, but stood there for him nonetheless. They motioned for Soul to come ahead of them so they could keep an eye on him, which he followed. So, with Soul at the front, the three started their descent down the mountain.

Now that it was day, Soul was rather surprised at just how green the path to the city was. It was simply a small cobblestone path identical to the rest of the city, which seemed strange considering this led to the leader's housing. Soul guessed Ghira's humble nature didn't let him add any sort of flare to it. Soon, however, the path opened up into larger, populated streets, though nowhere near as busy as the area near the beach. He guessed he was in the residential area, which reminded Soul of what he wanted to do before he left.

"Hey," he said to the guards, "Can we stop at a place? I need to visit someone."

The taller guard replied, "Sorry, but we're under strict orders to take you to the port."

"I promise it won't take more than ten minutes. Please, I need to do this."

The shorter one rubbed his chin. "Well…"

"No," his partner interjected. He pulled the other guard aside and tried to whisper with one another. Soul, using his semblance, increased his senses in order to hear their whole conversation.

"Come on, Bill, don't have a stick up your butt."

The one Soul assumed as Bill spoke with an aggravated tone. "I don't care! Ghira gave us orders!"

"The ship doesn't leave for another hour. Ten minutes wouldn't be horrible, would it?"

"What makes you want to help a human like him?"

"Bill, we need to be better than that. You should understand that from working under Ghira for the past two years."

Bill finally quit his resistance, perhaps out of respect for Ghira and his ideals. "Fine. But only ten minutes."

Soul quickly turned off his semblance before he got a nosebleed. The guards turned back around and walked towards him. "Alright," Bill said, "But no more than ten minutes! Understand?"

Soul smiled and nodded. "Got it!"

* * *

Soul walked through the graveyard towards the back, where a memorial stone stood for the faunus lives lost during Beacon. It was a small amount, but that didn't make it any less significant to the tragedy. As a memorial, the large, rectangular structure stood in front of a large cliff overlooking the sea, with flowers piling up at the bottom. The sun shined down and reflected upon the painted portrait up front: a group of faunus, all of whom lost their lives in the attack. One was a soldier who died protecting students. Another was a random spectator who got caught up in the action. Indeed, the faunus memorial showed how this act of horror was not meant for humans, but for anyone opposed to Adam and his goal.

But none of that mattered, he came to see Orphiucha.

Just off the center of the picture was Orphiucha, her warrior pose immortalized through paint. Her short, white hair remained in a state of flurry as she aimed her right baton at a grimm crawling towards a group of civilians further back. Yet, even in distress, she had the eyes of a huntress, willing to protect the innocent lives behind her. What caught Soul's eyes, though, were her clothes: she wore a sweater. The same sort of sweater Soul was wearing, only white in color, the complete opposite of Soul's black sweater. At its sight, he slowly rubbed his sweater's sleeve, remembering the origins of it and why he held onto the clumsy thing even in battle.

"Hey, Orph, it's been a while. I guess I haven't seen you since…. that, right? Actually, it was even earlier, wasn't it? I saw Ursus and Tari during the attack, but you? The last time I saw you was before we all split up." Soul clinched his fists in remembrance.

"I should have gone with you. Who knew something as simple as wanting to get food from different stalls would be bad? I could've stopped those horrible things from happening. Maybe we could have ran and saved Ursus, too… But, I can't just look back and regret. I promise you, I will atone for my failure to you and everyone else. I will make sure you'll rest in peace, even if it costs me my life."

"Heavens! Do you really think she'd want that?" a voice said from behind Soul. Soul spun around to find a woman in her forties with tied-up dark red hair, wearing a long flower dress. One wouldn't find her to be unique in a city of faunus, but to Soul, she was as special as they came with her green, viper eyes. They looked almost like….

"Ms. Rasalhague!" Soul exclaimed in surprise of seeing Orphiucha's mother. He had met her once, just prior to their first battle in the tournament, and she came off as one of the most loving mothers he had ever met. Soul, knowing her love for her child, refrained from looking her in the eye.

"It's a surprise seeing you here, Liu. But, why on Remnant did you say you would sacrifice yourself?"

Though Soul started with a customary smile, it quickly faded as his choice of excuses shrunk and shrunk. "I… can't talk about it. I'm sorry."

The woman frowned at him. "Liu, you should know it wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry, I try to think that, but I know it isn't true! Our team should have been together, always."

"Always? As in, in the bathroom? In the shower?" Ms. Rasalhague gave a smile at her joke.

"I don't mean that! It's just… don't you hate me? I'm the last one standing of Team SOUL."

"Liu, why would I ever hate you? My daughter died doing what she wanted to do. She died saving the lives of innocent civilians, both faunus and non-faunus. My pride in her cannot be shaken by a simple grudge. It doesn't matter who killed her, I have peace knowing that her death provided safety to other."

"Aren't you sad, though? Don't you ever wish she was still alive?"

Ms. Rasalhague had a melancholy look. "There's no doubt about that. The death of a child… I don't think anything is more excruciating than that. Some days, I wake up unable to get out of my bed, with a massive gap in my chest. But that hole is also filled with the exuberant happiness that her presence of seventeen years gave me. So, I'll tell you this, Liu: I am proud of Orphiucha, and I do not hate you. On the contrary, I think you and the two others were great friends for her. If it wasn't for you or Sagitari, the rift between her and I wouldn't have been fixed, and I look forward to seeing her after my life has ended and listening to more of her stories."

Soul still kept his eyes turned away, towards the endless ocean. "So what do I do, then? How do I get rid of this anger? This hatred? I can't forget Adam, and neither can I forgive him."

"Liu, I don't think they are the ones you need to forgive," she said. She walked up next to the boy as she examined the large memorial. "You need to forgive yourself."

Forgive himself? How could someone forgive themselves, unless they weren't guilty? Sure, maybe one could claim that he had no fault in his friends' deaths, which he had trouble believing, but he had also killed people already. By his hand, he slaughtered an entire group of bandits. He killed a defenseless hostage in response to a lie. Not to mention Jahr. Was he deserving of such sympathy?

No. Soul was an unforgivable castaway, and no one seemed to realize it yet.

"I can't," Soul said before he started his walk back to the entrance where the two guards stood. Bill looked rather peeved.

"Then, Liu? Please, try think about what Orphiucha would want you to be doing."

Soul did a small nod. "Bye, Ms. Rasalhague."

"Goodbye, Liu."

With those parting words, Soul continued his way to the port, feeling more confused than when he arrived.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! How are you all doing? I hope you've enjoy RWBY: Revenant thus far. If you do, why don't you give the story a follow in order to keep up with the chapter releases? I always try to do it weekly, two chapters at a time. Similarly, please provide some constructive criticism if you can! I would love to get better and better at writing, and I often feel like I write the words "before" and "however" a lot... But anyways, anyone ever write a small story where its a bunch of OC's doing stuff together? That'd be cool. I think I'd maybe write that in the future, but it would only be comedy, like RWBY chibi. Of course, I got my own fish to fry, so I probably won't have much time for that. It would just be a cool project in the future to do, possibly. But anyways, have a good night and God bless!)


	12. Chapter 12: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 12: Before – Sparring

Today was the day for embarrassment. Public sparring day. In front of people. Liu had hoped he would get sick beforehand, but it didn't seem to occur.

Granted, Sagitari stopped all the morning exercises two days in advance, which finally let Liu's muscles heal, but it didn't do anything to calm his nerves. Midnight sparring was still going on, though, and even though Liu had managed to hold his own far longer than the first day, he'd still be beaten in a matter of seconds by the others. To make matters worse, the secondary weapon Sagitari mentioned had still not arrived. All of this together just made Liu feel antsy.

His unrest continued up until his team entered into the student sparring arena. In a group of circles were chairs upon chairs, all looking down at the center: A stage with a screen overhead. Liu and his group sat just a few rows behind the front, a near perfect view of the battle arena, which just unsettled the boy even more. His friends didn't seem to have the same fear.

"I'm so excited!" Sagitari, in her cheerful state, exclaimed. She was literally standing on her chair in excitement.

"Get down, Tari! I know what you mean, but you don't have to scream it," Orphiucha groaned. Ursus nodded in agreement.

"Boo! You're no fun! How about you, Liu? Are you ready?"

Liu rested his head on his hand bitterly. "Me? Yep, I'm just raring to go. Me, the worst member in the team who can't manage to fight."

"Oh, come on! In these past two weeks, you've gotten much better, and your dodging is phenomenal!"

"You're still useless," Orphiucha muttered, "But you can definitely move out of the way."

Liu understood what they were saying. During midnight, he could manage to successfully predict and dodge a good amount of attacks from even Sagitari, the most skilled of their team. He only lost when he tried to introduce attacking into his movements. Besides, his group only went easy on him. If he was to fight someone else, like what he was going to do today, he would have no chance of winning.

"Oh!" Sagitari yelled. "Liu, I have a present for you!" Out from underneath her chair, she revealed a small shoe box and handed it to the curious kid.

"Another weapon?" Liu asked, excited for finally getting his upgrade.

"Yep!"

Liu turned to the box. Sagitari, the genius when it came to fighting, was the one who chose this weapon. Hopefully, it wasn't ninja stars. Liu took a deep breath and opened his box to find…

A gun.

"A… pistol?" Liu inquired as he took the weapon out of the box. He was initially disappointed since he had already tried the same kind of firearm out at the shop.

"Not just any gun! It's a model made completely of metal. I had to get it ordered from Vacuo! It can absorb any element and use that as ammo rather than simply dust! Try it! Try it!"

Upon further inspection, Liu did find the shiny weapon cold to the touch. Every single part of it was metallic, from the trigger to the handle. Where there should have been a place to put in ammunition, there was instead a hollowed-out area, perhaps to lighten the load. Carefully, making sure not to pull the trigger, he activated his electric semblance and sent it through his hand. Immediately, the gun started to heat up and crackle with lightning. The team eyed in amazement at the visible, but harmless, electric charges that reverberated from the weapon's body.

"Well, look here. Seems the loser's got a toy," someone said, making Liu jolt and shut off his semblance. To the left of Liu, towards the aisle between the sections of chairs, stood Athos, his contemptable expression under his hat judging Liu's minute strength. He stood only a couple of chairs' length away, past a random student who tried not to interfere. Liu put his gun back in the box and looked away, trying to ignore the man who insulted his father.

"Who are you?" Sagitari asked in a friendly, clueless gesture.

Upon seeing Sagitari and Orphiucha, Athos' character immediately changed. He jumped skillfully over Liu's head, onto the head of the seats that stood in front of the four. The students in front of Team SOUL gave Athos dirty looks for standing on their chairs. However, Athos was not fazed by the attention (in fact, he seemed to adore it), and bowed grandly towards the two girls.

"My ladies, my humble name is Athos. I must say, never before have I placed my eyes onto such beauties!" He first tried to take Sagitari's hand and kiss it, but found her hand immobile. Athos then tried to use two hands to pull her own, but again, Sagitari's immense strength made such a feat impossible. He had no choice but to give up, instead moving to Orphiucha and trying to kiss her hand. Before he could grab it, however, she responded with a swift punch to the cheek, sending him back to the aisle where he landed on his feet. It didn't stop Athos' heart-filled eyes from changing, though.

"That is fine! After all, a kiss does not equal to the pleasure your presence gives me! By your orders, I shall do anything to pay back my debt of happiness! By your call, I shall-"

"You're annoying them," Liu said uncharacteristically, "Go back to your own chair."

Athos changed back to his cold character. "Oh, so the Xiu spawn thinks he can tell me what to do? Or what, you'll call your petty Dad?"

In any other circumstance, Liu would step back and apologize, or make an excuse. He did it with Orphiucha and Ursus on the first day, and he'd definitely done it back in Mistral.

Not this time.

Anyone who insulted his family, insulted him. Liu stood up from his chair. He even started walking towards the aisle. He may lose the fight, but at least he would stand up for his father. Once he took his first step, though, he was suddenly stopped by Sagitari grabbing his hand.

"Liu, don't do it," she said calmly.

Before anything else could occur, one of the teachers came up to the stage and started her speech. "Welcome to the first monthly public sparring. This is meant not just to give practice, but also to provide set goals for you to overcome…."

"Watch me," Athos spoke over the stereo's voice, "You will see what power I hold over you." With that, he walked to the back, where his seat must be. Liu, pulled by Sagitari, sat down as well.

"Thanks for stopping me," Liu said.

"Don't worry about him. You have us," Sagitari whispered. He nodded back and turned to the stage. His anger would not subside, however. Liu wanted very much to get back at Athos for how he was acting. He wanted to somehow take Athos in a fight, and try to stand his ground against all odds. That being said, he wouldn't let the negative emotions take over him. Just as Sagitari said, he had friends who had his back. Best to hold on to that over rage.

"I wonder who's going first?"

Before Sagitari said anything, the teacher announced the first fight. "Sagitari Kaus versus Candace Willington!"

* * *

Sagitari stood on the stage, looking as absentminded as ever. That was, until the fight started with the bell's ring.

Immediately, Sagitari transitioned from her carefree persona into her serious fighting mode. She dashed towards the other student, a girl with gloves that sprout out blades on each of her fingers. Prior to the girl name Candace's reaction, Sagitari already threw the first punch, landing directly into the girl's stomach. Candace jumped back to lighten the attack, however, and tried to counter with a claw slash. Calmly, Sagitari moved her body as slightly as possible, then came back, this time only touching her opponent. It would seem weird to anyone else, but to Team SOUL, they knew exactly what she was doing.

It wasn't too visible, but there was already a slight difference in their body structures: Sagitari's muscles became a bit more defined, while her opponent looked a bit weaker. The girl, as confused as ever, tried to move away, but her loss in muscle slowed her down significantly. This gave Sagitari a chance, and she made her final move: She threw a barrage of light, but astonishingly fast, punches. Liu wasn't sure how many she was throwing, but after three seconds, Sagitari stopped, as if she knew she had finished Candace off. The girl, despite regaining what muscle mass she had lost, couldn't move anymore, and she fell to the ground. The thump was accompanied by an overbearing silence of amazement from the crowd, who were speechless at the quick rate at which the match had ended. However, it was indeed over, and the delayed ending bell confirmed that. Sagitari's expression changed back again to her usual happy-go-lucky self, as if she forgot that she beat Candace to unconsciousness, and she started her walk back off the stage. Eventually, a skeptical applause filled the arena, praising the same girl who had the lowest grades in almost every class.

* * *

Ursus had little hesitation when the starting chime rang. Like Sagitari, he started off with a charge, spear-first towards his opponent, who seemed to have a bit more experience than the challenger against Sagitari. The other student, wearing a single blade on each of his limbs, sprinted forward as well, trying to meet a slower Ursus in the center. Just as they met, however, Ursus quickly pushed himself off the floor with the butt of his spear. In the air, his next step was to do a few quick jabs once he was directly over his opponent. The other student was quick, however, and he responded with a few simple dodges, then twisted around, waiting for the red-haired giant to land. Again, Ursus used the butt of his spear and gave himself one more push to try and get a good distance away. Once Ursus gained that distance, though, he would be able to take the lead in battle, so the opponent quickly dashed forward in hopes of catching him.

His guess was correct and Ursus could barely move out of the way when one of the arm-blades struck forward. The student quickly applied even more pressure by starting an onslaught of slashes towards Ursus, whose weapon wouldn't allow for him to be in close combat. Liu nearly believed their team would experience its first loss as the slashes continued to get closer and closer to Ursus, some even grazing his skin.

Yet, as with the two others of Team SOUL, Ursus would not be so easily defeated. He jumped back, only for the boy to stop his attacks and follow as well. At this small moment of respite, though, Ursus grabbed the end of his spear that had the blade and broke it off of the spear body to reveal the chain that connected both parts. He held the spear blade as if he were to use it as a weapon in close combat, which made his opponent hesitate for a moment, then proceeded to throw the sharpened spearhead at the boy. This forced him to dodge away, which gave Ursus even more time to move away. At an ample distance away, Ursus started whipping the sharp end around the area where his opponent stood. At the start, it moved very slowly, which gave the boy ample time to block the blade. Yet, Ursus used the energy of this guard to both bring the chained projectile back around for another strike, as well as increase the speed at which it moved. After three blocks from the other student, the weapon moved at such a pace that it was nearly impossible for the boy to get out of its butterfly pattern. If he moved backwards, the sharp end would follow. If he blocked, it would just spin back around with more energy. Thus, the only option the boy had was to charge forward towards the source: Ursus.

When the blade was at the furthest most point of its infinity pattern, the opponent dashed forward, hoping to attack the vulnerable red-head. Ursus jumped back a few feet, with surprise on his face. Liu was nearly worried that the opponent had won and Ursus lost in preparation.

Then the stage under the charging students buckled, but only in the area that Ursus had previously stood before his retreat backwards.

"Huh," Sagitari interjected, "Even I couldn't tell when Ursus used his semblance."

The entire section didn't break, nor did the boy fall completely under. It was just enough to faze him while the now confident Ursus brought the chain back around. The boy, too surprised at the stage breaking, didn't notice the chain until it started wrapping his arms. By then, he lacked the strength to break free from its grip, and Ursus' weapon soon found itself completely ensnaring the boy, with the blade part grabbing onto a section that kept it from impaling its prey. With his immense strength, Ursus brought up his chain quickly, throwing up the screaming boy as well. It was quite a strange sight, seeing the chained boy fly, but once he was situated at around three of Liu's heights, Ursus swung his metal end down with a strong determination. Immediately, the entrapped student came barreling down towards the hard ground. Liu, as well as every student in the crowd, winced as the boy hit the floor of the arena with a loud slap. The screen correlated, with his previously full health dropping to zero.

With the sound of the ending beep, Ursus quickly ran to the unconscious opponent and checked if he was alright while unwrapping the chains. Applause slowly followed afterwards, in amazement of not his quick movement speed, but of his one-hit win.

* * *

There were a few students before the next Team SOUL member went up: Orphiucha. She confidently stood, batons out, as she waited for her opponent: a young man by the name of Ren. After getting on the stage floor, he took out two guns, connected to small, knife-sized blades that protruded from the bottom of the barrels. Liu's analytical mind could tell that he was a very agile fighter, just as Orphiucha was. Unlike her, Ren seemed to have a much calmer and composed energy compared to Orphiucha's erratic and angry one.

Both parties stood, ready and waiting for the bell to ring. The batons and guns were positioned in such a way for a most efficient attack on the outset of the bell. Orphiucha, unlike Ren, had an excited grin on her face, either at the idea of being able to beat up a human, or just being able to fight. Each second made not just Liu, but the entire crowd feel tense, waiting for the battle to start.

Then, the bell rang.

Ren started by immediately pulling up his guns and shooting, causing Orphiucha to turn and run around Ren in a large circle, batons behind her. The attack from Ren kept Orphiucha on her feet, and prevented her from making a beeline for him. Instead, she hit the two batons together, switching on the dust component: her left weapon having a blue hue while her right one was glowing red. Still running, she turned her torso towards Ren and slashed towards the distant opponent, creating a long wave attack. The red, flaming energy forced Ren to stop his shooting and start running himself to get out of the way. However, he was quickly at it again, and both sides were at an impasse: one kept shooting at the other, while the other kept throwing energy waves at the one. Neither managed to fully hit the other, only getting a few nicks here and there until eventually, both parties put down their weapons and jumped forward, as if they read one another's minds.

With a long-ranged battle thrown aside, the two moved to close quarters, Orphiucha starting the next segment with a swing of her baton. Ren, without much effort showing on his face, blocked the attack and came up with his other gun, which Orphiucha deftly dodged, her short, white hair swinging playfully. She then came back with another strike from her glowing baton, which yet again came short of hitting its target. Ren's counter-attack fared no better, with his slash only grazing her cheek. This pattern continued on for a while, with neither party besting the other. When it seemed that one would gain the other hand, the other would, by some means, get out of the way and respond with a counter-attack. Similarly, the speed and agility of both was blinding, and Liu found it difficult following the movement of the weapons. It seemed to be an equal battle in strength, speed, and skill.

Thus, it became a battle of endurance.

The two kept at their assaults for a good while, until the first attack actually hit: Ren's. Though her aura blocked the blade, and it was specifically tempered for the sparring session in order to restrict any actual life-threatening wounds, Ren hit Orphiucha directly on the cheek. The girl had to step back in surprise, which only gave Ren an opening to attack. He quickly took it and proceeded to begin an onslaught on Orphiucha. While she dodged a little, her speed was already lacking, which ended up enabling Ren to get more hits on her. Her entire focus also had to be on dodging, which meant that she could no longer try to attack Ren. Thus, the fight became incredibly one-sided as Ren kept his attacks going. Out of the several slashes, about forty percent of them actually hit her, including the last one, an actual punch that send her back quite a distance away.

Liu looked up at the screen: forty percent health for Orphiucha, eighty percent for Ren. She was losing. While Ren definitely was slowing in speed as well, the attacks he landed on her made her far weaker than before. She could barely even stand, Liu seemed to notice, but Ren didn't seem to care. With the same swiftness as Sagitari and Ursus, Ren sprinted towards the wounded Orphiucha hoping to finish the battle quickly, Liu assumed. Orphiucha herself seemed done with the fight, as she let him come towards her, batons hanging lifelessly from her hands and head down. Liu cringed back as Ren made it within ten feet of the wounded girl. When Liu looked back at Orphiucha's eyes, though, hidden under her bangs were eyes filled with intense emotion.

"Don't think you'll win like that, you loser!" Orphiucha's voice reverberated throughout the arena. Just as Ren came close, but before he was in attacking distance, the girl slashed her red-shaded baton upwards, creating an energy wave directly in front of Ren that he was unable to dodge in time. While he managed to block some of it, the rest broke through his guard, hitting him with a force that shot him across the arena. He skidded a bit before regaining his composure and finally landing on his feet. The attack left him visibly damaged, though, and the health for Ren now read at fifty percent, making the battle far more equal that it was before.

With Ren on the other side, Orphiucha dropped her guard and walked forward confidently. Her viper eyes gleamed with an indiscernible emotion. Was it anger? Was it excitement? Liu couldn't tell, but at this moment, she had enough boldness to push her towards Ren with no defense.

"Come on!" she yelled, "Why don't you come at me again?"

Ren complied and dashed towards the defenseless faunus. In range, he slashed once more, again hitting Orphiucha directly on the face. However, Orphiucha came back around, hitting Ren directly in the side of the torso with her baton. Ren, though in pain, also came back around and hit her in her stomach, which Orphiucha responded with a hit to his cheek.

This muddy, vicious pattern continued until both of the students were at only five percent of health. Both Orphiucha and Ren were panting in exhaustion, only kept standing by their desire to win. Yet again, the battle was equal, but this time endurance was included.

Then, with a yell, both of the students came forward. Orphiucha raised her right baton one final time, trying to aim for Ren's face. Ren, on the other hand, brought his gun against his opponent's stomach once more. In a moment, everyone held their breath, waiting for the results. A loud slap occurred suddenly, showing that Orphiucha's attack did indeed hit its mark, and Ren's face was hit back. However, Ren's attack met its mark too, and Orphiucha found herself stepping backwards in pain.

With no visible indicator of who won, everyone looked up at the screen for the results: Both of the students reached zero percent. The ending bell chimed to reveal the winner: both of them, and none. For the first time today, a draw had occurred.

* * *

"I can't believe I lost!" Orphiucha pouted as she sat back down at her seat, perfectly healed. It seemed the medical attention for Beacon was very advanced.

"Oh, come on! You didn't lose!" Sagitari said, patting her friend-arguing partner on the back.

"Well, she didn't win either…" Liu muttered. He received angry stares from both Sagitari and Orphiucha.

"Well, at the very least, I won't lose like him," she responded as she pointed at Liu, before Sagitari could chide him. Liu felt the need to defend himself, but he couldn't argue.

"Don't say that, Orph! Liu is a team member just like me. And Liu! Orphiucha fought really well against a strong opponent. You should give her some respect," Sagitari defended. Ursus nodded in agreement.

Orphiucha crossed her arms and continued her pout, with Liu nodding in regret. Still, it didn't stop him from feeling worried about the fight. He was very behind on his battle training. He found himself cursing at his past self, who always avoided any sort of exercise of weapons training.

Still, Liu was confused about that part of himself. Why did he want to become a hunter when he always avoided the exercise and skills needed? Why did he try so hard to make it to a second hunter school after failing the test for Haven when he hated fighting? The paradox somehow confounded him, when he should know about it. He, of all people, should know the most about himself.

Suddenly, the speakers pulled Liu out of his thoughts. "Liu Xiu versus Nora Valkyrie."

* * *

Liu was shaking in his boots once he made it to the arena. He had a sword and a gun, now attached to him on a holster, but it would do nothing against the girl with a giant battle hammer-grenade launcher combination. The wait for the buzzer seemed like an eternity, but it wasn't out of excitement. No, it was out of terror. Pure, unimaginable terror.

Yet, like the sun going down the horizon, the bell was imminent, and it rang just after he heard Sagitari yell something cheerful behind him.

The woman jumped across the entire arena, grinning wildly as she raised her hammer. Liu very nearly wet himself at the sight of her weapon coming down on his head, but his two weeks of training somehow pulled him out of that fear and gave him the strength to move once more. Liu turned and ran out of the range of the hammer, feeling the pulse of the strike from behind. Guessing Nora was still trying to get her hammer up, Liu took out his new gun and turned around, hoping to catch her by surprise.

However, Nora was directly in front of him.

He nearly yelped seeing her already closing in, a good distance from the epicenter of her hit. Again, Nora brought her hammer down vertically, which Liu, thanks to the heavy and slow nature of her weapon, was able to dodge just barely. Once he took out his sword for combat, though, the girl brought her hammer back up and easily hit Liu's sword out of his hand. The leaf-shaped sword twirled around in the air and landed somewhere behind Liu, leaving him completely defenseless against the stronger and more skilled fighter. Nora, seeing her opponent open, smiled widely and brought her hammer to her side in preparation to swing.

When she started her swing, though, Liu suddenly found himself strangely calm where there should have been fear. Maybe it was all the past spars he had with Sagitari and the others, but Nora seemed somewhat slow, even if her hammer would break every bone in Liu's body upon hit.

How ironic that he needed to be put in immediate danger for his fear to go away. Liu jumped backwards, out of the hammer's swing. With the hammer's head past him, Liu quickly took his gun out of his holster and started putting electricity into it. It heated up and sparked with the addition of his power, indicating it was ready for launch. He looked at Nora, who was in the process of bringing her hammer back around. One shot, and she would be stunned. She may be able to still swing the hammer, but Liu could quickly dodge and let her fall down. One shot, and he would win.

But, he couldn't pull the trigger. This, in turn, caused him to get hit by the hammer. At least now, Liu knew only his ribs would break upon hit rather than his whole body.

The gun was perfectly fine. It was new and had no blemishes. He had pulled the trigger before when he was sitting in the crowd, and it moved with no issue. No, the issue was with him. He couldn't bring himself to use the gun. Now, as he landed across the arena with twenty percent of health left, he laid down, trying to understand why he couldn't shoot. He managed to push himself back up, despite the pain he felt in his ribs, and saw another opening for him to shoot a charging Nora. Again, he charged his gun and aimed for her. But again, he lacked the ability to pull the trigger. He just couldn't.

Suddenly, visions of his past came up. He remembered his first fight in a junior tournament. He remembered winning, despite all odds, and him relishing in his victory. Then, he remembered the opponent's inability to use aura. He remembered seeing their arm slashed up and unable to move. He remembered them being shipped off to an ambulance, and the entire audience stunned at what occurred. Finally, he remembered afterwards, where he gradually started avoiding his practice, and started his long path of losing every fight in every junior tournament he went to.

How strange that he forgot that, Liu thought. Even if he forgot it, though, his body didn't. It refused to pull the trigger, out of fear of the outcome. He tried so hard, but his hand wouldn't respond.

Such a hesitation gave Nora the chance she needed to strike. She leapt towards Liu with her hammer above her head, as if she were to hit him into the ground. Liu, shaken out of his stupor, managed to dodge just out of reach of the slam. However, the vibration from the strike shook the entire arena, and echoed throughout Liu's body, who stood far too close to the attack. He very nearly fell back on the ground, if it wasn't for Sagitari's extreme training.

However, he still lost his composure in the pulsations, and felt something move that he couldn't move before: his finger. His finger involuntarily pulled the trigger of the gun and, while he was still aiming at the girl, shot Nora with an electric bullet. Liu was devastated when he saw Nora's head flip back from the energy of the bullet. Did he kill her? Knock her unconscious? He did it again, he thought.

Then her head flipped back, eyes wide and head shaking with excitement. Liu looked up at the screen to find Nora's health go above the bar, at one-hundred-and-ten percent. At the same time, Liu felt his body give up suddenly, as if his strength went away. His hand could no longer hold the gun, and his knees buckled. His eyesight started to fade, but looking at the screen once more, he could see his own health drop from twenty percent to zero percent, despite not taking a second hit. Just before he lost consciousness, the bell rang, indicating as usual that he lost.

* * *

Liu woke up to the sight of his three teammates circling around him with worried looks on their faces.

"Liu! You're awake! How do you feel?" Sagitari asked.

Liu, somehow, could get back up with no difficulty. He also found his ribs to be in working order again, which was surprising. He looked around to find them inside a booth relatively high above the arena, behind several of the rows. The entire area was lit up and white, compared to the darker atmosphere outside. It looked almost exactly like the nurse's room in the school, the only difference being the windows. From the windows, though, you could watch the all the sparring battles, even if they were a little bit far away.

"I… lost," he said dejectedly.

"What was with that? Why didn't you shoot the first time? Not that it would have stopped her. Her semblance makes her immune to lightning," Orphiucha said, leaning against the wall.

Liu looked down. "I can't hurt people. The idea of bringing pain to someone… I don't like it. So, I couldn't bring myself to shoot Nora."

Sagitari came up to Liu and slapped him on the cheek. The boy, as well as Orphiucha and Ursus were shocked. "Liu, do you think we like the idea of hurting one another, either? No, there isn't a single hunter who doesn't like the idea of harming another person. But, when we're out there sparring, we don't do it for the sake of glory or winning. We do it to get better, so that we can be better hunters and huntresses! If you don't fight back, you don't gain anything. You don't protect anything! You-"

"Tari, that's enough!" Orphiucha, shockingly, stopped Sagitari. Sagitari's angry eyes suddenly became filled with guilt. She turned back to Liu, nearly tearing up, and embraced him a huge bear hug.

"L-liu, I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me."

Liu tried to brush it off as he attempted to push her off. "I-it's fine!" he managed to squeeze out of his throat.

Sagitari finally let go and sighed. "Liu, tell me this: When you become a hunter and you need to fight bandits, will you hesitate, knowing that they will bring further pain not to you, but to other innocent and good people?"

Liu stood resolutely. "No, I won't. That's why I want to be a hunter!"

Sagitari smiled. "Then, Liu… hit me!"

"…huh?"

The girl laughed. "I said, hit me! Punch me on the cheek! This is your first lesson of fighting: Hurting people."

"I-I can't…"

"Liu," Sagitari spoke seriously, "I don't want to hear you say that anymore. Yes, you can! This is an order from your leader: Give me a punch! Besides, think of it as payback for my slap!"

Liu moaned in frustration, but closed his eyes and raised his fist in compliance. He punched forward, making contact with the body part that he assumed was Sagitari's face and quickly brought it back. He was taken aback at the lack of a painful grunt or anything from her. Wanting to check if she was fine, Liu opened his eyes to find Sagitari still standing upright and smiling, though she had a nosebleed and a red mark on her face from the punch.

"There! See? That wasn't so hard! And besides, I'm still standing!"

Liu, to anyone, would have apologized quickly in regret. But, seeing Sagitari smiling despite a nosebleed made him chuckle. Sagitari followed, and Liu swore he could hear something come from Ursus' mouth.

"Hey," Orphiucha said, causing them to cut off their laughter, "That Atha guy is going up."

"Athos?" Liu asked, getting off the side of his bed and coming up to the window of the medical booth. He looked down to find the same guy from before, wearing his hat and holding his weapon, a rapier with a circular hand guard. He was standing across from an uneager opponent with a blue javelin. Athos, in comparison, was looking ever eager and ready for battle.

No one expected what was coming when the starting bell rang: Athos instantaneously teleported to the other side of the stage, where his opponent stood. The other student could barely bring his weapon to block when Athos attacked with a flurry of stabs and jabs. While the boy could block some of the attacks, several broke his guard and hit him in open places. Steadily, the other student's health dropped while Athos' remained at one hundred percent. He was far too fast for any sort of counter attack, thus the other kept blocking with little chance of victory. When his health reached thirty percent, however, the boy's guard broke completely, forcing him into an offensive stance. Athos waited as the other student came charging at him, then raised his rapier upwards.

The next thing everyone saw was the boy badly hurt and laying on the ground while Athos stood on the other side of the arena, several feet from where he was before. There was no other event in between.

"What… what just happened?" Liu asked. The fight had finished even faster than Sagitari's. Athos looked up at the medical booth and smiled as he made eye contact with a wide-eyed Liu.

The three looked at Sagitari, who was smiling. "What an interesting semblance," she said. "It's not just a simple time-manipulating power."

"What do you mean?" Orphiucha asked.

"Well, how long do you think the fight took?"

"Maybe… ten second?"

"But here's the thing: If the second-hand of a clock was on the ten second mark when the battle started, and landed on the forty second mark when the battle ended, how long is that?"

"That's not possible, right?"  
Sagitari pointed to the timer on the big screen for the entire team. It read "32.08 seconds."

"But… how?" Liu asked.

"There's where I'm stumped." Sagitari grinned yet again. "Such an interesting semblance."

Liu clenched his fist as he looked down at Athos, who walked back to his chair. This was his rival. How could he beat someone with a better semblance? Before, he would have given up and let Athos walked over him. But now, he wanted to deal with this man. He had a lot of time to think before the next public sparring, at the very least.

"Sagitari," Liu said, "I want to train even harder now."

She smiled back widely. "Great!" Sagitari exclaimed. "Before that though, can I see your gun?"

Liu took it out of the holster and handed it over. "Sure. What do you need it for?"

Sagitari broke it in her hands. She literally crushed metal in between her fingers, and let the remains fall on the ground. "There we go!"  
"Ah! What was that for?"

Sagitari smiled. "Your semblance is a little strange. One of the weirdest I've seen. I was expecting the gun to just shoot. But, once you used it, it drained all your remaining aura. That means, a gun like this won't work."

Liu frowned. "Then I guess I won't be able to use a secondary weapon?"

"Nothing like that! I promise you, Liu, we'll find a secondary weapon that will complement your semblance perfectly."

Liu nodded. "Then I guess I can wait."

"In the meantime, we're going to get you trained, Liu! Starting tonight, we'll get you started on attacking, since your dodging was pretty good. Now, drop down and give me fifty push-up!"

Liu tried to make an excuse. "Well, my ribs are-"

"Oh no, you don't! I know what you're doing, Liu! If you want to train harder, then we're starting now! Come on, fifty!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

He had a lot to think about. His attacking, his dodging, his secondary weapon and semblance, and Athos. But, as his time in Beacon continued, he knew he could avoid these issues no longer. So, he had to work hard to meet them, and that meant going through, and exceeding, Sagitari's crazy workouts.

He got down and started. One…two…three….

* * *

(Author's Note: Heya! Thanks for reading my fan fiction R_WBY: Revenant_ so far! If you've gotten this far without following the story, why don't you give it a try. Of course, that's only a suggestion. You don't have to follow the story if you don't want to. Now, time for thoughts with Endbeats: You ever imagine a fighting game where your OC has their own entrance and special move and all that? I don't know why I think about that. Anyways, I'm falling asleep here, so I'm gonna close this up and put it online, then go to sleep. Have a good... day where ever you are, and sleep well, unlike me!)


	13. Chapter 13: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 13: After – The Return

Soul stared out beyond the open waters, where the country of Menagerie was situated at. After the day's travel, the island now disappeared below the horizon, reminding Soul of just how big the world was. The only thing that caught his attention in the endless ocean today was a second ship that moved in the opposite direction of the ship he was on. Here he was, a man in the middle of nowhere, traveling to the outer stretches of this nowhere. Why was he even here, he had to wonder? His motivation, his drive for moving, was slowly being sucked out of him the more he thought back to his time in Menagerie.

Was he right? Was he wrong? He had no idea. Even now, as the broken moon floated upwards, he felt conflicted. Should he meet his father in the city, or avoid him and make way for Haven academy? If he continued, he could imagine doing worse and worse things, and adding more sins onto his back. If he stopped, he would never be able to rest knowing his friends' killers were still out there, and he'd have to carry what he's already done over him.

Soul lightly tapped his forehead in frustration, not noticing the captain who appeared to the side and took out a cigarette.

"Kid," he said, making Soul jolt, "I knew you didn't go to Menagerie for a friend, but never in a million years did I expect you'd be stereotyping faunus like that."

"Stereo…? C'mon, captain! I didn't ask around because it was a city of faunus! To tell you the truth, I got information that the White Fang was in Menagerie."

"Mmhmm. And why were you looking for the White Fang in the first place?"

Soul kept silent. He didn't want to have to confuse himself even more with the captain's advice. The captain eventually sighed and inhaled more of his cigarette.

"Look, I'm not going to pry, but you can't rely on yourself, kid. I could've helped you! There is an extensive information market in the underground of that city after all."

Soul feigned a chuckle. "And how does a simple transportation boat captain know about the underground?"

The captain coughed a bit. "Well, I suppose we all have our own secrets. But, 'Liu,' at least I know who my friends are. Do you?"

Soul turned in surprise. "How do you know that name?"

The boat captain grinned. "Scared you, huh? Well, don't worry. Ghira just told me your real name and nothing else."

Soul slammed his fist on the boat's railing, creating a large dent. "Don't. You. Ever. Say that name!"

"Struck a nerve, huh?" The captain, unfazed by his passenger's fit, threw his cigarette into the water below. "Listen, I don't know what happened in your past, but-"

"Stop!" Soul slammed his hands on his ears. "No more advice! No more talks of forgiveness! No more 'help!' I can't take it anymore!"

The captain remained unaffected by Soul's anger. However, seeing his fit end in tears made the captain sigh yet again. An awkward silence filled the void, accompanied only by the pants of a morally puzzled young adult. For the first time since they had been together, the captain was finally seeing Soul's true character.

Eventually, that void was interrupted by the captain's final response, "Ray."

"W-what?"

"That's my name. Or rather, that's my old name."

"Why are you telling me this?"

The captain turned away. "Think of it as an equivalent exchange for learning your name." He finally looked back to the broken Soul. "When you want to tell your story, I'll tell you mine. Got it?"

Soul nodded. The captain known as Ray then turned back and walked away, waving as he left. Just like his entrances, he left without much of an announcement.

_Quite a guy, isn't he? _the voice said to the now-alone Soul, still looking at the place where Ray stood.

"I guess so," Soul replied as he turned back to the ocean, which reflected the now overhead moon.

_…Soul, come to sleep. I need to talk with you._

Too tired to argue or fight, he finally agreed to something today, and walked to his quarters almost immediately.

* * *

The city Soul found himself in was torn apart and broken. Nearly all the skyscrapers had fallen some time ago, and the remaining ones simply waited for their turn to crumble. Debris of the rubble was scattered across the abandoned street, and signs of old shops now either hung by a few screws or laid down in front of their original home. That being said, the chaos stopped here: There were no fires, no storms, and no earthquakes. Just the ruins of a previously populated city.

He took cover behind a fallen over table, getting ready to shoot his scarf out of his sleeve. The hand that wasn't encircled by his sleeve was instead preparing to take one of his swords out from its sheath. Carefully, he looked over the table, trying to find his person of interest. Seeing that she wasn't there, he hid back down and tried to create a solid strategy in his head. Funny how being put in danger made him forget his troubles so fast. Because of that, he often craved times like this.

After prepping himself with a few deep breaths, Soul shot his scarf across the street, latching onto a rusted street pole. It had years of decay, but from the pressure he put on it, Soul could tell it had enough strength to support him. Quickly, he activated his semblance once more, telling the scarf to constrict and launch him across the blackened and cracked road. Once he made it across, his plan was to hide in the alleyway and continue his search once more.

Then, his person of interest came out: the voice.

Before he made it to the other side, the voice launched out from a taller window and planted her boot directly into Soul's gut. This, along with his scarf, sent him spinning around the pole and crashing into the nearby wall.

"Always look out for trouble, Soul. You should have used your semblance before going across."

Soul pulled himself out of the crater his unbroken body created and landed back onto the pavement. "Sorry, but I can't trust that in the dream world. No matter how well it's regulated, things don't work properly here."

He finally got a clear view of the voice. Like before, she was wearing trousers, though her shirt looked almost like a military uniform, only edited personally. Patches that would have rank or name were instead replaced with a strange bird-like emblem. Of course, it didn't make much sense to Soul. It was always different when he was trained by her. Unlike before, however, her straight, black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her uniform bangs were pulled back.

Seeing Soul was back on his feet, she took out her long, single-edged blade and charged forward. Soul took out his own two blades in retaliation and clashed with her. She was quick to pull back, however, and came back with a vertical slash from below right away. He dodged at the easy, possibly held-back, attack, and struck from the side, which the voice jumped over with little difficulty.

"Come on, can you be any less predictable? Are you sure you need two swords?" she asked as Soul jumped forward. He unleashed a flurry of blade strikes, using his electric semblance to increase his strength, and indirectly, his speed. The battle proved quicker than before for the voice, causing her to smile at the challenge. Still, she was unhurt by any of the attacks, being able to block every strike with just one sword. So, Soul added in his scarf, shooting it out at her hand in between his sword slashes. The metal successfully latched onto her forearm, and impeded her fighting hand.

"Good!" she applauded Soul. Taking this chance, he brought his two swords down on her. Yet, she merely moved her body aside from the attack and brought her other hand forward, slamming her fist against Soul as a counter-attack. The strength from her sent him flying backwards, but the momentum was interrupted by a tug on the scarf from the voice, who grabbed the other end of it. She applied more force, bringing Soul towards her for another beating. However, Soul predicted this, and unleashed his electric semblance into the scarf once more. As a reaction, the scarf stiffened up, which threw him away rather than towards the voice. Seeing that she was holding onto the scarf still, Soul decided to let go of it as well, which left him feeling somewhat naked.

Before he could come back, however, the voice immediately sprinted towards him, and he was yet again caught in close quarters. Soul, blades towards her, prepared to defend, but the woman proved too fast for him. With only one blade, she first hit the leaf-sword aside, then blocked the second weapon by letting it stab into her arm. With her usage of her healing semblance far more advanced that Soul's, she was able to heal at such an incredible rate that the sword found itself stuck in her forearm. Finally, she brought her own long blade forward and stabbed directly into Soul's throat. The impact proved too strong for him, and he fell to the ground.

"It was smart to let go of your scarf, but it left you completely defenseless. Either rely on it far less or stick with it," the voice said as she walked up to Soul's lifeless body. She grabbed her sword from his throat and pulled it out. Immediately, Soul could start moving again.

He stood up with a grunt. "I've never beaten you! Seriously, how do you fight this well?"

The voice laughed. With a snap of her finger, the scene changed from the destroyed remains of civilization to the same peaceful greenhouse that Soul often found her in. "I just have much more experience. You've been training- seriously training- for, what? A year? A year and a half, if you count the time difference in here and out there. Still, you're growing really fast, and you have some natural talent. I'm sure once you get a few more years on your belt, you could best me."

Soul and the voice both moved to their respective chairs and sat down. Training wasn't the only reason he came to the dream world. He suspected he already knew what she was going to talk about, and as much as he wanted to avoid it, she was with him always.

Before he could speak, the voice started, "Soul, what will you do now? Continue your search or go home?"  
Soul thought for a bit. "I… truthfully, I want to go home. I want to give up what I'm doing and see my family again. But…"

"But?"

"There are things I've done that can't be undone. I'm tormented by the lives I've taken. I'm… unsettled by how far I was willing to go. Jahr didn't even come to see me away. He was… frightened by what I had become. Do I truly deserve to go back home then? Home to innocent people?"

"Soul, I'm sure your father misses you very much."

"I don't want to see him," he said, flatly. He still couldn't forgive him after Beacon.

"Don't you remember what Ghira said? Even Atlas couldn't stop them! You have to learn that your dad wasn't the reason your friends died. Neither are you."

_You need to forgive yourself. _The words of Ms. Rasalhague were still fresh in his memory. Forgive himself for letting his friends die? Forgive himself for keeping his life while theirs was cast aside? Could he do that? Could he also forgive his father for issuing a retreat? Soul didn't know what to think and kept his head down. However, a warm hand found itself on his cheek. The voice's hand. Such a touch lifted his head back up to the smiling woman.

"Soul, if you can't return to your family for yourself, do it for them. Even if you believe you don't deserve their love, they deserve to be loved by you."

"You… are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Family is a very precious thing."

Soul, despite every fiber of his being disagreeing, consented with a nod. As much as it pained him to leave the killers of his friends behind, he couldn't continue piling such deplorable acts onto his back. He knew he had to do it.

He decided to put an end to his revenge.

Not because of what Ghira said, nor because of Ms. Rasalhague, but because of what his family deserved. His family deserved to have the answers to his disappearance. And while he was still horrible, just maybe this new path would give him the right to atone.

"You're awful knowledgeable about this, aren't you?" Soul asked.

"Well, I have had a life before being stuck in your head!" Despite the cheerful attitude, Soul noticed that there was a bit of sadness in her blue eyes.

"You know," he continued, "You still haven't told me your name."

She smiled. "I'd prefer to stay anonymous, if you don't mind."

"But didn't Ray say that-"

"Sorry, but I'm not Ray," she said, defensively.

Soul groaned. "Fine."

The voice responded with a laugh after seeing his pouting face. "Look, I can at least promise you that I won't betray you. I will always be on your side, even if it's the wrong one. Okay?"

Soul sighed at the continued mystery of his partner, but lightly smiled and nodded.

"Good," the voice responded with her own friendly smile reminiscent of Sagitari's.

Interrupting the two was the darkening of the room, indicating that Soul's body was starting to wake up.

"You can't really sleep well, can you?" the voice jested.

"The bed here is really tough!" The darkness started to engulf the edges of the room.

"Well, if you come back to sleep, we can do more training. If not, go to sleep earlier tomorrow. It's important to rest, after all."

So with a final nod, Soul let the darkness of the dream engulf him. While he was still confused, he at least knew his next destination: home. The idea of rest finally put some contentment in his heart, and even if he had some hatred for his father and himself, maybe he could eventually find forgiveness at the end of the road. Finally, he could put this time behind him, and give up on his disastrous plight for a much happier future.

How utterly unfortunate, then, that simple chance would thrust him back onto the path of revenge.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks very much for reading _RWBY: Revenant_. This set of chapters was rather quick, I know, but I had some extra time. If you're interested in more, why don't you give the story a follow in order to keep up to date with it? If you can, also provide me with some constructive criticism. I love nothing more than to get better at my writing skill, which involves getting that kind of criticism back. Anyways, I'm gonna get a beer. Byyyyyeeee, and thank you very much for reading this!)


	14. Chapter 14: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 14: Before – Test Day

Liu wasn't that great at most things in Beacon. Though he had improved throughout the past month, his skills were still lagging behind the majority of students here. His semblance lacked the same punch many of the other students had with theirs. His weapon was very basic, lacking even the simplest of additional arms like a shield. Even some non-hunter related activities, like cooking, was difficult for the boy.

But tests? Today, his worth skyrocketed, like an artist's works after their death.

With the first important test of the semester tomorrow, Team SOUL found itself studying in the somewhat crowded school library. Especially since they got there late, Liu was really worried they would be unable to study properly. Thankfully, the team was able to find an empty table just a few feet from the closest bookshelf. Now, Ursus and Orphiucha sat at one side of the table, studying hard, while Liu sat on the other with Sagitari, who kept falling asleep.

"Come on, Sagitari! If you don't pass this test, you'll have to take remedial courses! That means, no morning exercises," Liu said as he shook the girl's shoulder for the fifth time.

"Sorry, sorry," she said with a yawn as he raised her head back up. Her brown hair was riddled with cow-licks. "I just can't do this brain stuff. I like to fight more!"

"Then imagine that the test is an opponent, and you have to beat it up."

Sagitari rubbed her chin. "Imagine it's a fight? Hmm…" She then closed her eyes and held up her fists. The three others very nearly fell off his chair when she started punching the air in various directions. Needless to say, they got some strange stares for that.

"Come on, Tari, you idiot! Don't do that in the library," Orphiucha grumbled.

Sagitari opened her eyes and laughed. "Sorry! I didn't even realize where I was punching."

With everyone situated, Liu continued his tutoring lesson and pointed at a question. "Look at this math question, Sagitari. If you bring this number over here then-"

Liu's explanation was interrupted by Sagitari's falling head yet again. Her soft hair grazed Liu's hand, which made him blush. "H- hey, come on! Wake up!"

Sagitari, for the sixth time, got back up from her snooze. "I'm really sorry! I just don't know how to concentrate."

Liu sighed. "Why did you even want to become a hunter if it involved this stuff, Sagitari?"

She thought for a second. "Well, it's not like I knew this kind of stuff would be involved. It's just… I wanted to get away from things, you know?"

"Get away? From what?"

Immediately, Orphiucha interrupted. "Why did you want to become a hunter, Liu?"

"Huh? Well, it started when I was about nine years old..."

* * *

**Eight years ago**

Liu was lost. Very lost. Very, utterly lost. What was once a small playing session with his friends turned into a horrific nightmare as he lost his way through the thick forest. While it was mid-day, the branches covered any sort of light like a blanket. Now, he looked over his shoulder every fifteen seconds as he walked, trying to make sure the things he saw in his peripherals were just leaves.

"Help!" He yelled as he quickly walked through the maze of greenery. Yet, the more he walked, he more fruitless it felt. There was no sound, save for the cracks and snaps of sticks under his feet.

And the ones behind him.

Liu looked back to the sound, hoping it was just his imagination. All he saw was the original path he tread, yet something seemed off, like there was movement where there should have been none. The outline of a beast moved around, though the scenery was still the same. What was it?

Regardless, it scared Liu, and he ran forward hoping to get away from whatever the strange gap of space was. Everything around him became a blur as he sprinted faster than he had ever gone before. Still, the sound behind him continued, even more violently than before. It sounded as if trees were bending aside for this invisible monster. Even worse, it sounded to be getting closer and closer. Even worse still was Liu's haste: his speed proved too fast for his perception, and he ended up falling only thirty minutes into his run, tripping on a tall root that he didn't notice.

The boy, now on the ground, hid behind a tree, hoping the invisible grimm would not find him. He waited, breathing erratically in tears as he heard large steps move closer and closer to his tree. The time between each step felt like a millennium as the beast made its movement. Looking down, Liu saw the tall, chameleon-like shadow crawl past the tree, continuing to get longer as its owner moved to the hiding spot. Liu's breathing kept getting faster and faster, something he found involuntarily occurring, until finally the tree behind him shook with a light push. The shadow he saw on the ground now covered the area Liu stood in. Hesitantly, he looked up to find the head of the now-visible chameleon grimm peaking around the tree, one of its red eyes aimed directly at Liu. His legs didn't respond when he told them to run away, and all he could do was stare at the giddy monster who was ready for its dinner. This was it, Liu thought. This was the end.

That was, until a large scythe with a black handle went directly through the grimm's neck.

Immediately, the grimm's body stopped moving and fell as a human figure landed on top of its detached head.

"Hey," the spiky, black-haired man with red eyes said, "What's a kid like you doing in a place like this?"

* * *

"…after that happened, I was determined to follow in the footsteps of that hunter! I told my father I wanted to unlock my aura and get a weapon so that I too could become a hunter and protect people! And that's why I wanted to be a hunter!"

The three stared blankly at the over-excited Liu. "So," Orphiucha spoke up, "Where did you get that story from?"

"What do you mean?! I really got saved by the legendary Qrow!"

"No," Sagitari brought up, "I'm sure I've heard that exact story somewhere else, too."

Liu closed his study book and stood up. "If that's how you all are going to be, then I'm going back to the dorm! Sheesh, I let you all know about my past, and this is the response I get?"

The three responded with a group laugh. "We're messing around with you, Liu. It's just so strange seeing you get all worked up! Now, sit back down!"

Liu sighed, but consented. "Anyways, what about you Orphiucha?"

Before the viper-eyed girl could speak, however, Sagitari quickly interrupted. "Well, what about Ursus? He probably has a-"

"It's fine, Sagitari. I'm okay with telling them."

Liu looked at the two girls, confused at what silent agreement they both had. They were friends before Beacon, though, so maybe they know something they don't want the two guys knowing, Liu thought.

Orphiucha rolled her finger in her bangs. "Tell me: Do you know much about Atlas?"

Atlas, the dust giant. It was known for having beautiful cities, advanced technology, and a powerful military. Many times that an important world event was happening, the Atlus army would be there to defend and protect the civilians. They were about as large and rich as any country would come.

That didn't make up for the fact that no one liked the place, other than the Atlesians.

"Well, it has a lot of snobby people, I can tell you that," Liu joked.

Orphiucha simply nodded. "That, and they have the worst treatment of faunus than in any other kingdom. Slavery is still very much widespread, even if they use other words to describe the thing. Moreover, they restrict faunus to enter their borders unless they have specific, nearly impossible to come by, papers. And do you know what one of those papers can be?"

"A huntress license!" Sagitari yelled.

"Yeah. A huntress license, regardless of whether you're a faunus or not, will get you inside."

"Why do you want to go to Atlas, Orphiucha?" Liu asked.

Orphiucha grinned. "There's someone I need to meet."

"You aren't planning to...?" Liu sincerely hoped she wouldn't try to kill someone. As mean as she was, Liu and her had started getting along pretty well. So much so, in fact, that she finally stopped saying his name wrong. At least unintentionally, that is.

Orphiucha's eyes widened and she quickly shook her hands in rejection. "No! No! A hunter is supposed to protect, remember? I just sincerely want to meet someone. Maybe get something off my chest… maybe throw a punch… maybe-"

"We get it!" Sagitari said with a nervous smile. Again, Liu could tell she knew something that Ursus and Liu didn't know. He felt that he would have to confront them about it later on, but for now he decided to leave them alone. Instead, Liu turned over to Ursus, who kept quiet, as usual, throughout the entire chat.

"What about you, Ursus? Want to tell us about it?"

Ursus, mouth still shut, wrote on the paper in front of him a quick little sentence and showed it to the team. Between all the equations he wrote was a small sentence, though longer than what Ursus typically says. _I want to make friends. _

The frankness and unique motivation of Ursus made Liu feel a little awkward. It also made him a little guilty when he thought about how he perceived the red-head the first time they met. "Well," Sagitari exclaimed, "You've already made one here!"

"Count me, two!" Liu interjected, as well.

"Count me… maybe," Orphiucha said with a flushed face.

Ursus smiled at Liu and the others. "Thanks," he said in his rough voice.

As they were speaking, a group consisting of a grey-haired boy and two girls, green-haired and black-haired respectively, walked past their table. Despite attending classes for the past month, this is the first time Liu had seen them.

"Who are they?" he asked.

"You don't know?" Sagitari said. "The big student tournament is happening this semester, so students from other academies are coming here to do their studies for a time."

"Oh yeah… the tournament," Liu said, regretfully. While there was still a long time before the event, he felt like he would never be ready for it. After all, he was not a good fighter. That isn't to say he hasn't improved, but he had a long way to go before he would be ready for real combat.

Sagitari growled. "I can't take it anymore! Let's train right now! Come on, Liu! Let's take these books outside and study at the same time! Maybe that will help me!"  
Liu poked his chin. "You may have something there."

"Let's go, then!"

* * *

"What's the square root of two-hundred and fifty-six?" Liu yelled as he tried to practice some gymnastic moves that Orphiucha taught him. While Sagitari's exercises gave his body far more definition that he had ever had, he could only manage one cartwheel, and he was still in the process of learning a backflip. He had ways to go before he could integrate them into his fighting style.

"Uhhh…. sixteen!" Sagitari yelled back while she shadow-boxed. Their hunch was correct, and she seemed to study far more easily than in the library. She could even memorize passages of the textbook, as long as physical training was involved.

"Which country did the last battle of the Great War occur at?" Orphiucha asked while sparring with Ursus. Ursus kept a tight defense against the offensive girl.

"Vale. No, Vacuo!" Sagitari moved to exercises, quickly doing sets of perfect push-ups.

Liu fell flat on his stomach after doing his fifth attempt at a backflip. Regardless of how many times he messed up, he knew he was getting better at the move. "Name three different grimm!" he requested while getting up.

"Beowolf. Boarbatusk. Annnnnnddd… Lancer!" She ended with a large uppercut.

"Great! Sounds like you're ready, Sagitari," Liu cheerfully said. He patted his hands together to rub the dust off and walked over. Ursus and Orphiucha finished their spar and came towards them as well.

"Yep! I can't believe it actually worked!"

"Now let's hope the stuff stays in your head," Orphiucha joked.

"I think I'll head back to the dorm then," Liu chimed.

"Wait, Liu," Sagitari stopped him, "I want to see something with your semblance. Remember how you could put your electricity into your muscles?"

"Yeah?"

"Let's try something out: Put the electricity… in your head!"

"In his… head?" Orphiucha questioned.

"Exactly! If his semblance made his muscle strong that one time, what would happen if he put it in his brain? Would it speed up his thinking? Would it make him smarter? I want to see it!"

"Tari, that could damage his-"

"I'll try it out," Liu agreed. Despite the scary sound of it, he trusted Sagitari's fighting-oriented mind. He closed his eyes and imagined the electric semblance situated at the center of his body. Carefully and slowly, he shifted it upwards, towards his neck. He moved it through his neck, into his head where it-

Instantly, Liu's head ached horribly as the lights around him glowed with the brightness of the sun, and the sun glowed more fiercely than anything he had experienced before. Sounds that he assumed came from the city a long way away sounded as if they were only a few feet from his ears. Smells of several different origins entered his nose and nearly made him gag in displeasure. His clothes awfully hurt from simply laying on his body. Out of everything, the lights were far too much for him, however, and he swore he started hallucinating, seeing a strange, fat student staring at his team from a distance. Unable to hold on any longer, Liu quickly moved his electricity out of his head. He gasped heavily at the experience and put his hands on his knees in rest.

"Are you alright? Your nose is bleeding!" Sagitari gasped. Liu touched the area under his nostril to find a red liquid dripping out of it. Other than that and the headache, however, Liu didn't feel bad.

"Let's take you to the nurse's office again," Orphiucha groaned.

"No, I think I'll be alright," Liu said, "I don't feel like there's anything wrong with me."

The three others looked at one another in debate and finally accepted his condition. "What happened to you?"

"I think… my senses get stronger if I do that. It hurts like crazy, though."

Sagitari chuckled. "Just as I thought. It's the same with your muscles. Since your brain can't get stronger, I was thinking it would make you see or hear far better!"

"Is that so?" Orphiucha muttered.

Liu looked down at his hands. "I hope I can control this in time for the tournament then. I want to be useful to you all."

"Liu," Sagitari put her hand on his shoulder, "You are useful! Now, let's go back to the dorm! Last one there has to cook dinner!"

"Or we could order some pizza," Liu brought up.

"That, too! Ready? One, two, Team SOUL!" This time, the four managed to raise their fist at the same time, though Sagitari was the only one who said it out loud.

* * *

From behind a pillar stood a somewhat chubby boy staring at the four known as Team SOUL. They had finished a group exercise and were now heading to the school dorms, which allowed him to finally get out of his hiding spot. He didn't take heed to its leader, the faunus, or even the black-haired boy who was the son of a famous general. No, he looked at the tallest one. The red-head one.

The terrible, awful, most destructive being that named itself human: Ursus.

"I have you now, slime-bag!

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks very much for giving _RWBY: Revenant_ a read! If you enjoyed it, why don't you give the story a follow and keep up to date with the story? Similarly, if you can, please provide me with constructive criticism! It is necessary for improvement, after all. Oh yeah, and extra author's note: I kinda realized that "Orphiucha" is a rather weird name. Thus, here is the pronunciation for it: (Oar-fyu-kuh). Sagitari is Sagitari, and Ursus is... Ursus. It's really just Orphiucha that has the weirder name. So, if it's not too late, put the new pronunciation in your head canon. Or not. It's not required. Anyways, thanks again for giving my story a read, and please come back!


	15. Chapter 15: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 15 – After: Missing the Family Reunion

_So this is Mistral, huh? _the voice asked in Soul's head.

"Yep. Boring, isn't it?"

The ship had only landed at the southern-most port a few hours ago, which was dwarfed by the size of Menagerie's own port city. This made sense considering the fact that Mistral wasn't very well known for having large, bustling cities, the exceptions being Mistral City and a few other population centers. But a port city directed only towards a faunus country? It didn't cause many people to open businesses around the place. Just past the port there were only a few houses where some ship owners stayed for a few nights, and some restaurants run by their spouses, separated by a small dirt road. There was one rundown hotel that resided just in front of the port and a very small post office a good ways back, but only mountains and trees went beyond that.

_I think it has its own charm_, the voice answered.

"Well, I suppose this place is a bit smaller than the other Mistral towns. Still, any place in this country is a bit nostalgic."

"What's nostalgic?" Ray asked as he came from behind. Because the docks were deserted, Soul forgot that he had to hide his mouth when he talked to the voice.

"N-nothing!" Soul replied while waving his hands in dismissal, "It's just good seeing Mistral again."

Ray looked at him inquisitively, but dropped any further prodding. "Then I guess you know what to do? Ghira told me that if the person you're looking for doesn't show up, you should get a room at the hotel."

"What about money?"

"He said you'd have money." It seems that Ghira's kindness ended when it involved monetary issues. Though to be fair, the faunus leader wasn't wrong in his predictions.

Soul turned to the town and took a deep breath in. "So, I suppose this is goodbye then, Ray."

"Yep. If you look for a boat in the future though, don't be a stranger. Maybe then, you can tell me more about yourself."

Soul nodded, and with that, Ray spun back to his ship and walked back. The young adult felt more stressed at leaving Ray's side, but knew he had to continue. He had to meet his father once more and hopefully bring his mission to an end. Only then would he know if he could be redeemed or not. Only then would he know if he could be freed from the past phantoms that haunted him.

Only if Kang did actually come a few hours earlier. Then Soul would have never returned to revenge.

* * *

Two hours had passed, and literally no one was seen coming from the road. The only other person Soul had seen was Ray, just before he went back into his ship. He believed he saw the silhouette of a person going into one of the restaurants, but it was too far to tell. All he was doing now was tapping his finger on the blackened wood of an old bench he found, getting more and more aggravated as he waited for his dad to show up. He also switched to resting his head on his hands as he sat.

"I wonder what's keeping him?" Soul inquired with no real desire for an answer.

_Well, he is one of the leaders of this country's military force. It makes sense if he's held behind a bit._

Soul looked up to the cloudy afternoon sky. "I know, it's just…. he's always perfect, you know? He does his job perfectly, and yet he always has time for his family. It seems strange that he'd be this late."

_ I sense a bit of bitterness behind that. _

"What are you? A psychic?"

_Soul_, the voice firmly said. She knew he was avoiding the confrontation.

He ultimately sighed and opened up. "Sorry, but it's just annoying being measured up to him all the time. People look at me and expect great things as a result of being his son. I thought after the tournament things would have changed, but even Ghira mentioned him again as if he was some sort of standard for excellence."

_So, was all this anger towards him this past month because of your frustration?_

Soul thought back to the attack on Beacon. His memory was still fresh, seeing his father's own troops retreating from the fight. They claimed it was under his orders, which angered him for reasons different than what one would think. "If he's so perfect, how could he run away from a battle? He shouldn't have the privilege to be an example of perfection anymore! And yet, I'm still haunted by his image!"

_Then you hate your father?_

"Of course not! I just… I'm a bit angry is all. Thinking with a clear head, I know he isn't the reason Beacon fell. I know he isn't the reason… they aren't here anymore. But still, I can't help but feel this anger towards him for the way he is. He has this incredible way of fighting, a powerful weapon, a perfect semblance, and a natural way of leading. Must he always overshadow me?"

_Soul,_ the voice softly comforted him, _You are your own person. Being with you these past months, I see something good in you. Truly! Something that separates you from him. The fact that you're coming back home means that good has triumphed!_

"Still, what I've done… it's pretty much restricted me from overtaking my dad. I don't know if I can ever be forgiven for these actions."

_Well, we'll clean your slate together, Soul. Just remember you have those on your side beyond just me now. And don't compare yourself to your father. Again, you are your own person._

Soul, still confused but confident, got up from his sitting position and started walking towards the segment of buildings that tried to call itself a town. "Come on, let's find a place to stay."

* * *

"Here's your key, sir," the sleepy-looking old woman muttered as she handed a rusted key over to Soul.

With a nod and a silent "thank you," Soul put the key in his pocket and picked back up his small backpack. The hotel was rather ancient. The wallpaper of the lobby reflected the trends of forty years back, plagued by the many tears and cracks that would be seen at such an age. The floor was several shades darker than it originally must have been as well, painted by the feet of drifters. Alongside these, two of the lights in the room were busted, with a third one constantly flickering. The musky odor was the final blow for Soul and he had to drag himself out of the lobby into the open street.

_Sheesh, even I don't remember when that art was in style,_ the voice grumbled, referring to the few portraits that littered the sides of the walls.

"If that's how my room is going to be, I'd rather sleep on the road," Liu said as he gagged from the lobby's smell. "Anyways, let's find a place to eat. What are you in the mood for?" Soul asked. Sometimes, he would give the voice the choice of their dinner.

_How about pizza?_

"What? Do you think we're in Vale?"

_Okay, how about a burrito?_

Soul looked at the three restaurants that lined up with one another, just across from the hotel. All of them were advertising the same kind of food native to Mistral. "You probably won't find that, either."

_Okay. What does this place have then, Mr. Mistral?_

"Sorry, I guess the choice is up to me this time," he said as he stepped forward. Getting a closer look, Soul found that the restaurants were serving various kinds of noodle dishes. Each had their own small twists, but they all followed the same base. At a closer distance, he gazed into the window of the first restaurant, which looked almost abandoned. Its tables were cracked and aged beyond repair. The floor looked as if it hadn't been cleaned for decades, with a piece of green chicken laying in the corner of shop. Several exposed wires covered the roof of the place, and some even reached the height of Soul's head. Immediately, he slid to the side, towards the second eatery. Gazing yet again into the second window, he found the place looking comparatively nicer. Compared to other towns, this restaurant actually didn't look too bad either. Soul would have picked it with no hesitation after seeing the first place's condition, but there was one person, the only customer in the place, that caught his eye.

Brown and pink hair, strange black hat, white clothing.

"No," he muttered as he back-stepped from the window in horror.

_It's... that girl!_

"No, no, no."

It was her.

It was the one who killed Ursus.

_Calm down,_ the voice attempted to comfort him. _Soul, I know what you must be feeling. Please, think for a_ second.

He couldn't believe it. Soul's first reaction was to walk away, towards the other side of the road. He managed to pull himself across the empty pathway, even with the mixture of negative emotions that took his attention. He had made a choice, after all. He wanted to leave for home and give up his fruitless mission of revenge. He wanted to stop hurting people for information. He wanted to protect rather than sacrifice. Besides, he told the voice and Ray both what he was going to do, and he didn't like to break promises.

Before Soul made it to the hotel, though, he stopped. With the woman in his grasp, however, was his original revenge truly so useless? He looked back towards the window, examining the woman who casually drank tea as if she had committed no crimes in her past. As if she had no remorse for any actions she had committed. If guilt didn't exist in her, she needed to be punished. If her emotions didn't punish her, then it was up to someone else. Soul reached for his sheaths and grabbed the hilts of his swords.

_Soul, _the voice stated firmly, _Remember what I said? I've seen something good in you. You have a character of strength and tenacity, and it can be used for good! Please, don't open this can of worms._

At her words, he slowly released his grip on his weapons. "You're right," he angrily muttered. "If I do this, it will lead into more awful things. Greater, more numerous sins."

Then, his strength came back and he started walking back towards the restaurant.

"But I've already done horrible acts for the sake of this mission. What's the point in trying to go home if I'm already this far deep? Now, with her here, I have the chance to avenge Ursus, and I'm going to take it."

* * *

Neo's best friend was gone. Roman Torchwick was no more. What was she to do?

For months, she had aimlessly traveled the globe. No goal. Just moving. She hated every silent second of it. Roman understood her, regardless of her handicap. Now with him gone, she had no one to talk to her. No one to understand what her movements and expressions meant. Now she was alone in a vast, dark world.

She had already moved past the crying stage, and now felt nothing but an empty void in her chest. Not even holding onto the hat that he always wore gave her any sort of relief. She hated this more than anything. She would do anything to get him back.

But she couldn't. So, she found herself in a dusty, old shop that served mediocre tea, wearing the same expression that she always had. Unfortunately, it didn't reflect her internal torment. So, she sipped her tea for some comfort. One thing Neo had learned was to use anything as a distraction. The creaking of the floor, the taste of the tea, it all could be used to keep her attention away from Roman. The sound of the door opening and the entrance of a new customer could be used as a distraction, too.

Neo looked over to the sound to find a young man with black, long hair and striking, blue eyes. He strangely wore a large sweater with big sleeves on top of a set of jeans. Surprisingly, the person kept his focus on Neo with eyes of disgust. Eyes of hatred.

It didn't matter to her. She instead turned back to her tea.

"Hello," the man's voice said from her left. She looked back to find the man already standing nearby, with his hand on her table. He had on a very friendly smile, but his eyes kept their same emotion. She responded with a friendly, yet empty, wave of her hand.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked as he pointed to the chair across from Neo. She put her hand forward to signal for the guy to sit. Slowly, the man turned around and laid his backpack down below the table before sitting down himself.

"What's a guy gotta do to get some noodles here?" Neo responded with a slight shrug and a sip of her drink. The owner had left the place quickly after helping Neo. She even gave her a pot of tea, which Neo found she had very nearly finished. To finish it quicker, Neo signaled for the stranger to indulge in it himself.

He looked over and shook his head. "No thanks."

After that, he reclined in his chair and eyed Neo. She felt a little uncomfortable at his eyes, but didn't mind one way or the other. "You know, I think I may have met you before."

Neo shrugged.

"Why don't you say anything?"

Neo pointed at her throat.

The man's eyes widened in response, as if he had an epiphany. "Oh, I understand. In fact, I think that seals it. I have met you before. I've seen you at…. Beacon, was it?"

Neo straightened up. She was getting ready to reach for her umbrella.

The man smiled, yet rather than his same friendly one, it became wicked. His voice equally grew in volume and ferocity. "I remember, yes. You were there when _**it **_happened. You were there when my friends died."

Neo grabbed her umbrella in preparation at the person's growing rage. "In fact, you were the one! You killed him! You. Killed. Ursus!"

In an instant, the man slammed his palm on the table and flipped it. Neo, however, had trained her reflexes far better than this. She moved under the airborne projectile and slammed the hilt of her umbrella against the stranger's neck, who had yet to take his own blades out. The force of her attack was enough to send the man flying out the window into the streets.

Neo was unsure what was louder: the window breaking or the table crashing into the wall behind her. Either way, she knew what her next move would be. She took the blade out of her umbrella and walked towards the entrance of the restaurant with the intention of finishing off her downed opponent. Unorthodoxly, she stepped over the broken glass into the road in expectation of finding the downed body.

Instead, she found an empty road, with little indication of a person ever landing on it.

Neo looked around in disbelief, but there was definitely no body nearby. She was baffled at the result, and perhaps even questioned her sanity. However, she most definitely hit someone out into the street. If that was so, then, where was he?

Unexpectedly, a metallic cloth wrapped itself around Neo's neck from behind her.

"Hey!" a voice yelled from above. Struggling, Neo looked up to find the same stranger on the roof somehow unwounded, holding onto the cloth that was choking her. He had the smile of a madman on his face, and it seemed he took great pleasure in seeing Neo squirm. With a flex of his hand, the cloth tightened on Neo's neck and forced the breath out of her throat. She fought as hard as she could, but the device would not let go of her neck. Slowly, the world became darker and her senses dulled the more she fought. Eventually, the feeling in her body dimmed, and moving her arms became more of a hassle. She very nearly gave up against the power of the metallic scarf.

Then, she thought of Roman Torchwick. She thought of his unfair death.

A warm light found itself into the empty void Neo had, and life was plunged deep into her. She couldn't die here. She just couldn't. Who else would bring justice to Roman's killer?

Using quick thinking, she created two physical manifestations of herself that charged towards the man from both sides of the roof. The move proved successful: The man retracted his cloth and focused on the two of her that she created. In a surprise, the man finished off both version of her in a matter of seconds, killing one with a few slashes, and killing the other by tripping it and stabbing through the gut. Of course, they were far weaker than Neo's real body, so she expected the man to win, but she didn't expect him to win so fast.

Once it was finished, the stranger jumped off the roof onto the road and got himself in a fighting position. Neo did the same, preparing for the mystery attacker.

"I'm going to kill you for what you've done!" he yelled. And with that, he made a desperate charge for the girl. But, Neo would not give up. She would fight for Roman. She couldn't lose this flame in her heart. She would win. She would live.

And then, she would get revenge.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! You! Thanks! For! Reading! This! Story! I took a little break last week, but I finally kicked in writing mode this past weekend. Work can be fun sometimes, which means it takes a bit more time from me. But hey, if it pays the bills, then I'm happy. I've also been working on one of my own, non-fan fiction, short stories! Once that's all finished, I'll let you all know how it's doing. But hey, why don't you follow or review this short story? You can also provide me with some constructive criticism. Or not, it's your choice, really. Anyways, see ya!)


	16. Chapter 16: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 16 – Before: Ursus

"Ugh, I can't believe we were picked for this job!" Orphiucha groaned as she dragged her feet forward. Though it had been a while since they started the Sagitari-copyrighted exercise routine, the morning wake-up often left some of them exhausted throughout the day.

"Come on, don't be like that. We get extra credit for the class, after all." Liu carried a pile of posters while stumbling behind an annoyed Orphiucha. The two were walking around the school halls during break, upon the orders of Professor Port to tape posters up.

Orphiucha stopped and turned to the right wall, just past a staircase. "Only a nerd like you would say that. Now hurry up and move closer!" Liu leaned forward, letting the faunus snatch a fresh paper off the top of the stack. With similar grace to her fighting arts, she quickly slapped four pieces of tape around each corner of the poster to reveal the poster's subject. Seeing the object of interest on the posts gave Liu a strange sort of excitement that he hadn't felt since he arrived:

The school dance.

He didn't share the same sort of pessimism that seemed to originate from Orphiucha's direction. In fact, he very much enjoyed dances. He liked to dance, there was food, and he was interested in asking Sagitari. Only as friends, of course, he kept telling himself.

"So who are you asking?" Liu inquired to his partner while they started moving to their next position.

"Not you, if that's what you're asking," Orphiucha answered flatly.

"Hey!"

Orphiucha then chuckled a bit and grinned. "I'm only joking around. I don't mind you, Liu, even if you are a dirty human. Though, I do have someone in mind."

"Oh, really? Who are you thinking about?"

Uncharacteristically, the girl turned towards Liu and blushed. "It's none of your business!"

With a huff, Orphiucha stomped forward. Despite her anger, though, Liu couldn't help but snicker to himself. It was a rare sight seeing her get that worked up. "Well, let me guess. Could it be Athos?"

The girl kept walking.

"Jeane?"

She still walked.

"Sun?"

Immediately, Orphiucha stopped dead in her tracks. In a flash, she hit aside the stack of posters and grabbed Liu's collar on his uniform. Still blushing, she threatened, "If you tell anyone, I will kill you!"

Rather than keep quiet, Liu started laughing. "So it IS Sun! Who else could it have been?"

"Liu…" she growled from her gut. Her other hand was clinched in a fist and positioned for attack.

"Whoa!" Liu immediately stopped his laughing. "I understand, your secret's safe with me. I just wanted to have a little fun is all."

Orphiucha sighed in annoyance, but let go of his collar. She bent down and motioned for Liu to do the same in order to pick up the mess of papers. "Come on, let's clean up this mess and finish putting up our posters."

"Right," Liu agreed as he and Orphiucha slowly put the posters back into a neat pile.

"Anyways," his partner continued once the poster were put back in Liu's hands, "Since you know, you should tell me who you plan on asking."

Liu looked away. "W-well, don't laugh, okay?"

"I can't make any promises."

"Please?"

Orphiucha sighed. "Fine, I promise you I won't laugh."

Liu took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm going to ask Sagtari."

* * *

Twenty minutes had passed. The hallway was now full with students who were on their way to class. Every single poster had been taped on the walls. Liu and Orphiucha were now walking to their next class, which was located on the other side of the school.

And still, the laughter hadn't stopped yet.

"Come on!" Liu complained, "Stop laughing already!"

Orphiucha kept laughing, receiving some confused stares from other students. "But really, Sagitari? I don't doubt she would say yes to you, but it's the challenge of dancing with her that would obliterate you. The girl doesn't know anything other than fighting. She'd either turn you into dust in the process of dancing, or fail so miserably that you both would trip all night!"

"That's not true! I'm sure Sagitari can dance just fine."

Suddenly, Orphiucha had a traumatic facial expression. "Oh yeah, I suppose you don't know much about Sagitari's past."

"What do you mean?"

The faunus had genuine terror in her snake eyes. "One time in our old city, we had a dance that Sagitari went to. Her dancing partner ended up suffering seven broken ribs, one twist wrist, two sprained ankles, and a broken nose."

Liu's mouth dropped. "What?!"

Orphiucha nodded. "For your safety, I would recommend asking someone else. Though for my humor, please ask her to the dance!"

"Hey, don't treat Sagitari like that!"

An unexpected voice exclaimed from behind Liu. "Who's treating who like me? I mean, who's treating me like Sagitari? I mean… You get what I'm asking!"

Liu turned around to find Sagitari, her brown eyes in curiosity. "S-Sagitari! What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to class, but I ran into you and Orphiucha along the way! Should we go together?"

With another bit of laughter, Orphiucha waved. "Sorry Sagitari, but I forgot to get some of my stuff from the last class. You and Leon can go to class together, though."

"You literally just said my actual name with correct pronunciation a few minutes ago!" Liu yelled in frustration. However, it was far too late. The girl had already disappeared into the crowd of students in the hall, leaving Liu with their team leader.

"Well," Sagitari pointed her hand forward, "Let's go! I'd run, but the halls are a little crowded today and I want you to keep up."

"R-right," Liu nodded. While the two were walking, Liu kept looking at Sagitari from the side. Though she was an airhead, he deeply admired her leadership. She was also kind, though oblivious to her own strength. To complement this, he often found himself stunned at her beauty. Her brown hair. Her tan skin. Her joyful eyes. Her-

Liu slapped himself, receiving attention from everyone but Sagitari, who kept her eyes forward. _Just friends, _he told himself. _I'll ask just as friends._

With a shake of his head, Liu caught back up. "So, Sagitari, did you know about the school dance a week from now?"

"Oh yeah!" she hollered while the two walked. "I'm excited for it! That means there could be some good food!"

"Yeah! Anyways, I wanted to ask if you wa-"

Like a giddy child in the playground, Athos slid out from the corner of another hall, directly in front of the two. He reverently bowed to Sagitari with a single red rose. "My goddess!" his usual feminine fascination came out, "Please, let me have the honor of joining you at the dance next week!"

"What?!" Liu was baffled. Since the first public sparring session, Athos had shown up many times, to both taunt Liu and flirt with both Orphiucha and Sagitari. Now he was planning to take Sagitari? Even worse, Liu could imagine Sagitari accepting, as she continued smiling at Athos.

The flirtatious maniac turned to Liu and grinned maliciously. "Well, seems the Xiu spawn is a bit jealous? It doesn't matter, you can never equate to myself!"

In a complete 180 degrees change, Sagitari harshly grabbed Athos' shoulder and turned him back. Her smile changed to an angry frown and her eyes lit with fury. Her structure became a bit more defined in that same anger. "What did you just say to my team member?"

"Huh?" Athos asked confusingly.

Sagitari masterfully grabbed his forearm and started spinning. Athos, unable to break free, started spinning along with her, and soon his feet rose off the ground as she increased in speed. "Sorry, but I don't want to go with you!"

Once the yelling boy was spinning at an incredible speed and the group received unwanted attention by the other students, Sagitari let go and sent the screaming Athos far down the other side of the hallway. She patted her palms together in satisfaction. "That's what you get for messing with my teammates! Now, let's go on to class, Liu!"

"O-okay," Liu muttered as looked down the hall where Athos disappeared. Without him in sight, Liu caught back up with Sagitari.

"Oh yeah, what did you want to ask me, again?" Sagitari asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to-"

In her usual one-tracked mind, Sagitari took out a piece of paper from her bag. "Oh look, Liu! I passed the test we studied for!"

Quickly, she shoved the test in Liu's face to reveal a score of 74. Just barely passing, but it was enough for Sagitari to avoid remedial classes.

"This is amazing! I'm glad you did so well!"

Sagitari brushed her long, brown hair behind her shoulder. "Well, it was thanks to you and the others that one time! If you didn't help, I'd be taking some extra classes right now!"

Liu shook his head and passed the test back. "That's good, but I wanted to ask you, Sagitari, if you wanted to go to the-"

Out of nowhere, Sagitari grabbed Liu's shoulder and pointed ahead. "Do you see that?"

In front of the two stood Ursus a good distance away. He was a head taller than everyone around him, but he was just normal, nonetheless. Liu assumed he was on his way to class.

"Oh hey, it's Ursus." Liu nearly tried to run up to him, but Sagitari tightened her grip on his shoulder.

"Not just Ursus. Look over there!" she said as she pointed once more. Looking again, Liu found that she was not pointing to Ursus, but in fact another boy some distance away, hiding behind a corner and spying in their friend's direction. "It looks like that kid is looking at Ursus."

"Who is that boy? Is he even a student here?"

"I don't know," Sagitari replied. "Come with me, Liu. Let's go find out who he is."

* * *

Ursus. That wretched villain. The only reason he could have come to Beacon was to get even stronger, and use it for his vile purposes. Yet, if no one knew of who he was, it was up to Freddie to reveal his true form. Even if it meant taking time off of regular school and sneaking into Beacon academy, he had to complete his mission.

After acquiring a Beacon uniform, Freddie managed to get into the school and find his target easily. After all, Ursus stood far above most other students, so it was quicker than he expected. Now, he hid behind a corner, hand ready on his scroll, ready for the villain to act up or do something malicious so he could take a picture as evidence. Even if it meant getting caught, he would get a picture of his target.

"Excuse me," a voice came from behind, as well as a touch on his shoulder. Freddie worried a little, but if it was a teacher, he would have no difficulty showing his fake ID. After all, new batches of students were coming to the school because of the tournament, so they surely couldn't spend time checking every single student. Casually, he turned around with his ID out.

He found what seemed to be a demon.

A tan girl with furious eyes and an aggressive stance grabbed Freddy by the collar. Her voice's volume had the strength of an explosion. "What on Remnant are you doing spying on my teammate?!"

A second person, a boy with black hair, came from behind the beast. "H-hey, mind if we talk for a bit?"

* * *

After grabbing Ursus aside, the four settled in the courtyard, with Liu and Sagitari standing in front of the strange boy, named Freddie, who sat on a small bench. Ursus, strangely, stood a good distance away, though still close enough to be in the conversation.

"So, Freddie," Sagitari started, "What's making you spy on Ursus?"

Immediately, Freddie stood up and pointed. "That… thing is the epitome of evil!"

"Whoa," Liu jumped in, "Do you know what you're saying? I know Ursus looked big and mean, but he's actually a gentle giant."

Freddie snorted. "That's what he wants you to think. You want to know what his nickname was at our old school? We called him "The Blood-Stained Bear!" People said he once beat up a group of hunters just for fun! I also heard he's eaten human before! My friends also told me-"

"Wait," Liu interrupted the over-excited chubby boy, "You've experienced these things, or you've only heard of them?"

"Well… everyone's heard of them!"

Liu looked at the boy dubiously. Was all of this seriously because of simple rumors? The boy, seeing Liu suspicious became quite a bit more defensive in his body language.

"You don't believe me? Well, I did in fact see him beat up a group of people back home! Many people did! That must mean there's some truth to the rumors."

While Liu had trouble believing these accusations, he noticed that Ursus still stood some distance away with a guilty expression. Liu doubted there was merit, but he found it weird that their teammate didn't interrupt or defend himself.

The boy, perhaps angry at their disbelief, spoke louder. "Why don't you ask him, yourself? I'm sure he'll tell you the truth! About how he broke someone's arm, and how he was the leader of a gang, and how-"

Sagitari, strangely quiet in all of this, cut Freddie off by grabbing his neck, nearly choking him. Any sort of playfulness she was known for had completely disappeared. Even the almost comical-like anger she showed Athos, as well as the first time they caught Freddie, was dwarfed by her current silent indignation. "Get. Out."

With Freddie's attention, and horror, completely focused on her, Sagitari pushed him towards the exit of the courtyard. The chubby boy fell to the ground, but ungracefully stumbled back up. "You'll see!" he yelled as he ran away towards the entrance of Beacon, "He's a crook! A criminal! A villain! A…"

The boy continued his onslaught of accusations until he was finally out of earshot, leaving the three alone. Sagitari still fumed with a rage previously unseen, and Ursus kept his eyes downcast, his face depressed. Thus, it was up to Liu to start getting answers.

"Ursus, who was that?" Liu asked.

Ursus was still silent and kept looking down.

"Look, I know they aren't true, but you have to tell us. If you don't want to talk, you can just-"

Ursus, using his gruff, rare voice, spoke, "Do you really think some of that isn't true?"

"Uhh… Err, of course it isn't true!" Liu tried to muster his own voice, stunned at the longest sentence Ursus had said yet.

Ursus sighed and sat down at the place Freddie once sat. His voice often creaked, perhaps from years of silence. "If you can believe it, I've been this tall since elementary school."

Both Liu and Sagitari gasped. "What?!"

Their teammated nodded. "My body became strong, proportionally. Because of this, the other students became scared of me. Soon, the other children whispered rumors about me that became facts to them, which followed me to Signal, and which follow me, unfortunately, even now."

"Then, they're just rumors, right? We know you wouldn't do stuff like what Freddie said."

Ursus shook his head. "There was one thing he said that did have some truth to it. One day where I lost it."

* * *

**Three Years Ago**

"Hello. Hello. Hello." Ursus muttered to himself, trying to fix his deep voice that always seemed to scare people. Today, he would get a new friend. After all, his mom told him he had a winning smile. Believing his spear could cause fear, he quickly bent down and disguised it in a long cello case. With a deep breath, he picked it up, gave himself one more friendly smile in the mirror, and left the bathroom of his dormitory.

The new dorm, walls painted a light red, always had students talking outside their rooms. Of course, that always changed when Ursus was walking through. It always pained him seeing the doors close and people run out the instant they saw him walking down the hall. No matter how long time has passed, they all still believed the rumors. Rumors about him eating a person, or how he tortured for fun. Rumors about how he could take down a group of registered hunters, or how he never slept. But no matter how sad he felt, or how scared people were, Ursus promised himself that he could never hurt others. He had to prove he was better than those silly rumors.

Soon, the path of the dormitory led to the outside of Signal Academy, where several groups stood talking. At that sight, Ursus hid behind the corner.

"I need to be confident," he repeated to himself multiple times. Lightly slapping his face for concentration, he peeked out the door to look again. They were all talking and laughing with one another, and some were even playing some fun games. It made Ursus jealous seeing such friendliness, but he had to believe that feeling would leave him soon enough. Today, he would get a friend. There were many bunches of students, including a section of five students running around, two walking together together, and four sitting in the grass under a tree. He ignored those, though, and focused in on a large placement of students, around fifteen in total, all standing around and talking. Getting into that circle had to be his goal.

Ursus slid out the corner and stepped out, walking down the concrete path towards the larger group of students. He noticed in his peripherals some of the other bands of students running away, but this group was still oblivious to his advances. It was amazing to find that they still didn't see him as he stopped only a few feet from the group. At this distance, he had to say something. It was his chance to make friends.

"Uhh…."

Every other time he said something, students jumped and fled from his direction. Some would try to call for help, but this group? While they quieted down, they kept their focus away from Ursus. Similarly, they stayed in the same places. This gave Ursus another, and even better, chance to try chat with them.

"He-"

"Ursus, is it?" a boy with blue hair asked from the other side of the rough circle the group made. He was sitting on a bench, legs crossed as he eyed the massive size of the newcomer. Casually, the kid left his position and walked forward through the circle to meet Ursus. He had a wide smile on his face, and though he stood a few heads shorter than Ursus, he had a friendly disposition.

"Y-yes," Ursus unintentionally grumbled.

The boy put his hand forward, "My name is Jazz and this is my gang."

Politely, Ursus shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

In retrospect, the smile Jazz had was a bit bitter, but Ursus was too blinded by his next question to notice:

"Well, Ursus. Do you want to be friends with us?"

* * *

**One Week Later**

Ursus fell into a rain puddle, punched down by the cooperative efforts of Aar and Bee. Once he landed, he rubbed under his nose to find blood spewing from his nostrils. He tried to get up once more, but once more, Bee pushed him back down into the water.

"W-why?" he muttered, "Jazz, why?"

Today, Jazz gave Ursus a call, asking the boy to come with them into town, no doubt to do something illegal. Ursus was beginning to regret getting involved with Jazz, but for the first time, he was actually talking to people. He didn't want to lose this, even if it meant being with people he actually didn't like. So, he simply followed behind the fifteen others, and declined when they invited him to do certain activities with them. He planned to just follow them into town, which is what he did for the first thirty minutes. Even when they went to a less populated street, Ursus followed.

He only imagined they'd just treat him as a random straggler. Never did he imagine Jazz and his gang would attack him.

Jazz stepped in front of his lackeys with a displeased frown. "You disappoint me, Ursus. I heard you were violent beyond anything! You were called the Blood-Stained Bear, but all I found was a coward. You never beat up anyone I wanted. You never stole what I wanted. All you did was follow behind me like a little dog, when I wanted a bear.

"That's not what friends do!"

Jazz kicked Ursus in the gut and made him spit out his last meal. "What do you know about friends? You've never had them." He then motioned for his gang to follow behind him.

Before Jazz turned around, however, he spoke once more, "You know, when you first agreed to my request, I thought I had won against the risk of dying to you. I thought if I failed, you would have destroyed my gang. It just turns out you're a coward who looks big."

Ursus managed to slowly push himself up as he saw the gang laugh and walk away. While the physical damage to him was small, the emotional was huge. He did everything he could to make Jazz happy. Everything except what the rumors suggested he would. It was all what his true self would do, and it still didn't make friends. The frustration boiled, and Ursus felt tears fall down his cheeks, masked by the slow rain. It was always the same, he thought. He was always turned away.

Every time.

His pain was almost immediately filled with rage. Uncontrollable rage.

Every time he tried to help someone, they never accepted him.

His fists clenched so deeply, his fingernails broke skin.

Every time he tried to talk to someone, they never talked back.

He felt his feet push him forward at a dangerous speed, towards the group of fifteen that had their backs turned.

Every time, they always ran. They always believed the rumors. They always expected evil.

One of the group looked back at Ursus, who yelled an immense battle cry. She was too late to warn the others.

Well, if breaking their expectations didn't work, then Ursus was about to meet them.

* * *

"Come on! Let's go," Count weakly groaned as he put Jazz's arm over his shoulder and pulled him away. Some others managed to do the same, but the majority laid in the street deeply unconscious. The physical damage was enough for Ursus now, and he laid down with them as well, using the side of the wall as a support for his back. Other civilians immediately ran away before the real fight started, so the streets were now vacant.

"What… what did I do?" he questioned himself with deep remorse. Halfway through the fight, he came to his senses, grossed out by the carnage he had already dealt out. He had nearly stopped, but the members that kept fighting forced Ursus to continue and battle for survival rather than violence. It only made him more and more disgusted by his actions. He had always tried to stand above the expectations placed upon him. Now, it seems it had become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It was times like this where Ursus was reminded of his brother's comments of his talking. Perhaps if he didn't try to talk so much with his cursed voice, these rumors wouldn't circulate. Perhaps he would have made friends. It was then that Ursus had an ultimatum: Either give up talking and looking for friends, or become the beast he was believed to be. Looking around at the fainted bodies surrounding him, he knew that giving up on friendship was the better option. The pain he dealt was awful, and even if he did make a friend, what's to stop him from doing it once more? He revealed a monster in him, and he didn't want to see it again.

Ursus looked up at the sky, which had divided and revealed the afternoon sunlight. Some would see it as rays of hope. Others would see it as happiness. Ursus, however, could barely see it from his tears of sadness. He raised his hand towards the sun and remade his promise, no matter how depressed it made him: He would never speak once more, nor would he ever look for friends.

He was going to be silent, all the way to Beacon and beyond.

* * *

**Present Day**

"…because of that time, I've kept my mouth shut. My voice does nothing but hurt others. Besides, nothing I say would change what Freddie thinks. Nothing I ever say does anything."

Liu was amazed at the explosion of new information he heard directly from Ursus' mouth. Once believed to be mute, Ursus had far more going on in his past and held so much back. "But," Liu brought up, "Since I met you, you've been friendly to all of us. You've even talked a few times."

Ursus looked up at Liu with devastated eyes. "That's because of you, Liu. When we first met, you were definitely scared, but you actually talked to me. You didn't run at first sight, and I may be assuming too much saying this, but you weren't scared of me anymore after a while. You gave me hope. Same with Sagitari, and Orphiucha. Those first few days were like a dream to me."

Ursus bowed his head back down. "I'm… so sorry you had to hear about what I've done. If you want to stop being friends, just te-"

"Who cares?!" Sagitari yelled from behind Liu, making him jump.

Ursus looked up. "Wha-"

"I said, who cares!? I don't! Liu doesn't! Orphiucha doesn't! We like you, Ursus! That's all that matters.

Ursus looked to Liu for confirmation. Liu nodded, "T-that's right! Ursus, when we first talked, I was definitely scared, but by the end of our conversation, it went away. I now know you're a kind-hearted giant, and just hearing about this Jazz guy makes me understand why you would have lashed out like this."

Liu then copied Sagitari's smile. "You're our friend, no matter what!"

Sagitari also smiled at the stunned, and slightly teary-eyed, Ursus. "And you know what? If that Freddie guy shows up again, we'll just have to show him your true self!"

"But how?" the red-head questioned.

The next thing Sagitari said bewildered Liu. "Let's go to the dance together, Ursus! Then that boy will see how calm you are in a fancy environment!"

"B-but let's not be hasty!" Liu interjected. As much as he liked Ursus, he wanted to be the one to go with Sagitari. "After all, how do we know that this will work?"

"It's fine, Liu," Ursus confirmed with a determined nod as he stood up from his chair. "I need to face my past. If this is the way I must do it, then I shall… dance."

Sagitari gave a thumbs-up to a smiling Ursus. The two seemed confident in this plan, desiring to break those rumors that plagued, and continued to plague, Ursus. In all circumstances, then, Liu should be happy for his friends. He should support them however he could in preparation for the dance. Instead, he couldn't help but feel jealous, and even angry, at Ursus.

"They're only friends," Liu muttered to himself.

"What was that, Liu?" Sagitari tilted her head.

"O-oh, nothing! Just… regretting a few things."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello, hola, bon jour, ni hao, and every other language's greeting! Thanks for reading this story so far! With the new volume of RWBY up, I listened to the new intro song a billion times while writing this. I'm more a fan of volume 4's opening, though, as well as 6. Those two are great. I still like the new one's though. But, anyways, review and follow this story if you like it! Or give me some constructive criticism. Or not, since the choice is yours. In the end, I'm just glad you're reading! So, have a good (insert time of day here) and God bless!


	17. Chapter 17: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 17: After – Neo Politan

_Liu, please stop! You can't do this!_ the voice kept crying in the back of Soul's head.

"Shut up! I'm Soul! Soul!" he yelled back after just barely avoiding a hit from the attacker.

_Please, listen to me!_

"Shut! Up!" The pink-brown haired woman had a look of dubiousness upon seeing Soul talking to himself, but it didn't slow down her quick umbrella strikes. She moved in rather predictable patterns, but she was such a blur that Soul found himself barely able to dodge. Sometimes, he would just take a hit from the flurry in order to get closer, only for the woman to move further back and restrict him to the same distance. Similarly, anytime he shot out his scarf towards any of her limbs, she nimbly moved out of the way and continued her onslaught yet again. It was like there was a wall that restricted him from getting any closer and trapped him to a safe distance for her.

For the fifth time, Soul tried to jump forward, allowing a hit from the umbrella as long as it allowed him to attack. This time, though, the woman chose to instead hit far harder, and faster, than before. His movements were immediately put to a startling halt as he felt the umbrella masterfully strike him in various places of his body, from his cheek to his gut. Dazed from the assault, Soul was unable to block the final, hardest hit. A hit so strong, in fact, that he fell to his knees and felt blood trickle out of his mouth and nose.

Yet again, Soul's head shook with a voice. _Stop_,_ please! You're no match for her.  
_

"Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutup..." Soul whispered to himself. Between the internal screams of the voice and the inability to deal any damage to Ursus' killer, Soul grew more and more frustrated. But, he couldn't give up here. He didn't go around the world for nothing. When it came to battles like this, he often relied on the voice's semblance, healing from any damage done to him and coming back against the tired opponent. But against an enemy like this whose endurance seemed to dwarf his own, Soul instead had to start relying on the skills he had mastered, both in his time at Beacon and in his dreams. He had to start relying on his electrical semblance.

With the voice's semblance already healing his vital wounds, Soul managed to pull himself back onto his feet. "I've got something for you," he voiced to Ursus' killer, "Something I've developed for moments like this."

Most times, Soul only used his semblance on singular muscles or his brain separately. It was far easier to control, as well as easy to heal from the side-effects afterwards. In moments like this, however, he knew he had to extend it throughout his entire body. With closed eyes, Soul visualized the electricity that rested in his chest. Carefully, he tapped into the electrical center and sent only some of it shooting throughout his body's muscles and organs, from his feet to his brain. Absorbing too much of the semblance into his entire body would destroy it, even with the voice's semblance. At a regulated amount, though, he could still manage to keep his body from breaking.

It was times like this when he understood why his father named the semblance "Battery." It was as if he was suddenly charged up with energy, strength, speed, and every other physical advantage he'd need to battle. The density of his muscles felt greatly enhanced compared to before. Alongside this, his senses became greatly boosted, though not to the point of blinding or deafening. Rather, he could see clearer, noticing which muscles his opponent was going to use next and predicting how her attacks would turn out. Soul knew now that he could change the tides in his new form, though he also knew he had to be quick. This form couldn't be held for an extended time.

Ignorant of Soul's new power, the woman dashed forward, umbrella raised forward. Just like before, she started attacking the same, light speed patterns. However, at the moment the woman pushed her umbrella forward, Soul moved aside, still barely able to dodge her even in his enhanced state. However, it was enough for him to bring his second sword forward, intent on stabbing her directly through the abdomen. Yet, while the woman was shocked at his physical amplification, she was still quick enough to determine the danger and deftly avoided it by slapping the flat side of the blade at the last second, only allowing the sharp end to graze the left side of her torso.

However, the attack was far from over. Soul immediately brought his other sword forward, going for a slash on her neck. While the woman didn't have the strength to contend against Soul's energized muscles, she managed yet again to push the sword out of its original path with her umbrella, instead forcing the weapon over her head. At this moment, it seemed that the attack had proved fruitless, but Soul was far from done. With both swords pushed away, as well as the woman's own hands restricted to blocking, he came forward and slammed his forehead into her face. The impact from Soul's augmented strength sent the opponent a few meters backwards, forcing her to back flip and regain her balance.

Soul grinned at the sight of seeing blood drip from her nose. Her own expression seemed to turn to one of rage, but it wasn't enough to stop Soul's charge forward. He refused to give her any sort of chance to rest. With a yell, he brought his blades upwards against the woman, who blocked the predictable attack with her umbrella. Like before, however, his strength was too much for her, and the woman had to instead use the force of Soul's strike to push herself backwards. Mixed with her own added jump, the woman lifted herself off the ground towards the wall of the third restaurant behind her. In a skillful maneuver, she put her feet to the bricks and pushed, launching herself back against Soul with her own sideward attack. The added force from her jump made him actually struggle to hold her weapon back, even with his boosted form. However, it was no big deal. Once her momentum stopped, Soul came forward and-

Something hurt. Badly.

Soul froze at the pain of two blades impaling his sides. Unsure of what occurred, Soul looked down to find two other version of the same woman. Once they saw their attacks land, cracks formed around their bodies until there was no more structure and they fell apart like glass.

"Is this her semblance?" Soul muttered to himself. Just like on the roof, weaker clones of her had appeared yet again. Distracted by the element of surprise, Soul didn't notice when the woman landed back onto the ground and slammed her hilt into his gut. Too weak from the wounds, the young adult fell on his back and laid lifelessly as the last bits of blood spewed out of his healing stabs.

In the pain did the voice's sounds get louder. _What are you thinking?! You were so close, Liu! You could've gone home. Now, just act dead, and maybe my semblance can bring you back with no issue._

By the end of her scolding, the stabs were no longer a threatening issue, though the areas still hurt awfully. The suggestion of the voice sounded tempting to be sure. He may suffer an extra stab from the woman just to check if he was truly dead, but he could easily play dead, wait for the woman to leave, and return home. Truly, he wanted to do that.

But, bad people don't deserve those kinds of happy endings.

Against the voice in his head's wishes, Soul rolled over and managed to push himself back onto his knees. Looking back up, he found his opponent to be flabbergasted at his apparent immunity to her attacks. With great excitement, he pulled himself onto his feet and gave the same smile he had with the White Fang members and the gang in Menagerie. "What? You've never seen a zombie?"

His joke seemed to strike more surprise in the woman, which gave him the chance he needed. Still powered up in his charged state, the boy ran for the villain at neck-breaking speed, leaf-sword aimed forward. Against the continued begging from the voice, Soul jabbed his blade, surprised once he actually hit her in the stomach. Still grinning, Soul kicked her off of his sword, throwing her on the ground this time. Relief for Ursus filled his heart when he saw life leave the killer's face.

It was strange, though, when the body broke like glass before even touching the road.

"What?!" Soul yelled, not only as a reaction towards the woman's disappearance, but also to the five other clones that came from behind the corner of the third restaurant. He was unsure when the real body made the slip, but regardless, he couldn't give up now. Even if it meant killing her five times in a row, Soul would avenge Ursus.

The first moved up, at a slow speed with indicated she was not the real body. Easily, he dodged her umbrella and slashed through her torso, breaking up the glass-like structure with little difficulty. Upon seeing this, the four others were a bit hesitant to take a step towards him.

"Well, if you aren't going to move, then allow me!" With a dash, Soul closed the gap to the closest body. This one moved with a bit more speed, blocking the attack that Soul brought from below. However, the umbrella cracked from his force, spreading all the way to her hand and beyond. With ease, the second clone shattered, leaving three more to check.

Next, two of the three dashed, blades out of their umbrellas. Soul was impressed by their speed, but it was still too slow to confirm whether they were real or not. Nevertheless, he met their weapons with his own. Compared to the first time he fought her, these two were very weak and sluggish, which gave Soul some ease in battling. After a segment of blade movements from them, he shot his scarf out and grabbed the left one's arm. While blocking more strikes from the other, he lifted up the ensnared opponent and slammed her into the ground, shattering the clone into a million pieces. With the scarf free, Soul brought it back, but not before trapping the fourth clone's fighting arm with it and cutting the limb off with his leaf-sword. The glass-like skin shattered, and with the clone completely defenseless, Soul stabbed his second straight sword into her sternum. Again, the clone's entire body grew lines and lines of cracks until there was no more form to take hold and the shards fell onto the ground.

That left one more. The final clone, or rather, the real body. Unlike the past facial expressions of the clones which showed fear, this one had a confident smile. Perhaps the woman was expecting Soul to be weaker from her clone's attacks, but she walked forward with her umbrella casually hanging off her wrist.

Whatever special tricks she had hidden in her sleeve, Soul didn't plan on retreating. He would kill her, even if it meant killing himself. With a push off the ground, he jumped into the air and raised his blade upwards. Still smiling, the woman remained defenseless as Soul started coming down from the sky. It was as if she was accepting the sword slash into her head and wanted to die. Not that Soul cared. He slashed his blade down just before landing, aiming directly for the woman's head. He knew he had won.

Or so he thought.

* * *

Neo took a last look at the small port town from the base of the mountain she was climbing. She could tell, the boy was still fighting the clones she created. Soon, he would figure out she disappeared. Perhaps he would feel some rage at losing his chance of revenge, but to her it didn't matter. Neo had a mission. She had her own revenge and could not die yet.

With a small farewell wave to the strange man whose name she never knew, Neo walked down the small gravel road, where she hoped to one day find Ruby Rose.

* * *

"How? Why?" Soul muttered to himself in shock as he pushed the sword through the final clone's head. It didn't even try to fight back. Still smiling with the sword passing through the mouth, the clone quickened the breaking process by slamming its fist into its chest. From both wounds, a plethora of cracks expanded until, finally, the last clone fell into small glass pieces onto the dirt road.

"She… she ran away! How? I watched her the entire time!"

_Soul_, the voice spoke in tears, _Don't go any further. You survived. Just leave her and wait for your dad._

Soul sheathed his swords and angrily kicked the remains of the last clone, scattering it all over the ground. "The one time I decide to give up, she shows up? I can't give up now."

_Soul, please…_

"Didn't you tell me you'd always take my side? Or was that just lip service?" Soul grumbled in a wrathful stupor.

The voice stopped any prior debate at that reminder, though he heard an exhausted sigh from her. In the end, she responded with an almost robotic voice. _I will always take your side, no matter what. Even if I believe it to be wrong._

Soul retracted the electricity from his body and returned it to his center. As expected, the moment of release also shot immense amounts of pain throughout his body. With a scream of pain and frustrated temper, he fell to his knees and grabbed the ground as hard as he could. For ten seconds, Soul could hardly move, and it took all his self-control to simply keep himself from continuing screaming. After that ten second mark, however, the voice's semblance managed to take the pain away, and he was able to stagger back up. Along with this, he could think far clearer than before, and the harmful words he said to the voice ran through his head. "I'm… sorry to drag you around like this. I know it's not right. I know it isn't what I should be doing. But, since the start, I've been doing what I shouldn't be doing. I've been doing what isn't right, all for the purpose of finding justice for my friends. Seeing that woman reminded me that I can't give up this late in the game. I need to find them, for the sake of my team."

_Don't you mean for the sake of yourself?_

"What do you mean?" Soul asked as he walked into the second restaurant and located his backpack between all the wreckage.

_Oh, nothing. Just… don't get yourself killed in the process. You can at least keep one promise for me, right?_

"I can. I promise to live through all of this. I need to, after all, in order to see it all come to fruition." The voice made no response, possibly too drained emotionally to even fight back anymore. So, once he left the restaurant, Soul threw the hotel keys towards the front of the hotel's lobby door and turned to the road. Definitely, he was angry that the woman escaped. He was upset that the one who he had the least information on was possibly miles away now, but in another odd way, he felt he needed to thank her. If it wasn't for her arrival, he wouldn't have realized the futility of redemption. He would have also left as a coward, unable to bring peace to the dead.

But now, he could return to that path. That awful, bloodstained path that eventually had an ending. An ending not for Soul, but for the others. For Ursus. For Orphiucha. For Sagitari. It was all for them, he told himself. He was not the one who was important.

He was only a killer meant for the dead.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey, how ya doing? Welcome to another one of these author note specials where I talk about nothing. Well, other than the fact that I thank you for reading my story, _RWBY: Revenant_. If you like this, why don't you follow or review? Anyways, I did want to let... whoever reads these chapters that the next "After" chapter won't be until chapter 21. Writing two stories at once is a little strange, so for the sake of lining them up correctly (since I already have the story outlined out), chapter 19 will be more of a... fun chapter. You'll see when it comes out. It would be serious or anything, just a fun chapter where the characters have some shenanigans. Anyways, thanks very much for reading, and Endbeats out!)


	18. Chapter 18: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 18: Before – Suit Shopping

Liu found himself once again in the foggy mountainous area, holding his woodwind instrument he often played back home. He was sitting barefoot on a large rock, a small distance away from the woman with long, black hair who leisurely walked and examined her surroundings. The boy found himself stunned by her striking, blue eyes. Once she caught sight of Liu, however, she waved hello and came forward.

"Hello, again!" she cheerfully spoke as she walked up.

A shy Liu slowly waved back. "Hello."

"Back in Mistral, I see. Are you still feeling homesick?"

Liu put his instrument down. "No, I don't think I am. Or am I? I'm far better than the last time we met, at least."

The woman smiled. "That's good to know! How are you enjoying Beacon so far?"

Liu oddly found her company comforting, so he had no qualms talking with her. Besides, it was only a dream. "It's a good school, but I'm just a bit nervous. I don't know if I stack up to the other students there."

"Aren't you getting better, though?"

"Of course! Sagitari's exercises and training have really helped a lot. I have Ursus to spar with, and Orphiucha to teach me gymnastics. It's just… you don't become a hunter in such a short time. I really wish I didn't avoid weapon training back in the day."

"You avoided training? I thought you wanted to be a hunter. What made you do that?" the woman asked inquisitively.

"Well... I did do it at first, but then I felt awful after beating someone in a fight. After that, it felt wrong getting stronger in order to fight, even if it was to become a hunter. If it wasn't for Sagitari's stubbornness to pull me out of bed every morning, I wouldn't have gotten out of that stupor."

The woman came up and sat down beside Liu on that same rock. "You know, you remind me of someone. He also lacked strength, but he really wanted to help people and become a hunter. I think you'll turn up just as honorable as him."

Liu nodded thanks, but his troubles extended beyond strength. "Well, it's not just that..."

She turned her head inquisitively. "What else is bothering you?"

"Well, I'm just annoyed at my teammates for no reason! I don't even understand why. Sagitari asked Ursus to the dance when I wanted to ask Sagitari. After that, I've been feeling nothing but sour towards the two. I know I shouldn't, but I can't control my thoughts!"

"I assume this Sagitari girl is someone you like, then?"

Liu shook his head exaggeratedly. "What? No, no, no, we're all just friends!"

Rather than comfort him, the woman just laughed. "Oh, how young minds work. Just tell them how you feel. Friends should be open, after all."

Before Liu could respond once more, the ground started to shake violently, as if an earthquake had arrived. Hundreds of cracks started to form on the rocky ground.

His partner frowned. "Drats! I wanted to talk a bit more. Well, mind if I visit again?"

The crack in the ground expanded under Liu while leaving an untouched circumference around the woman. "If you want to-"

Then, the floor swallowed him into a bottomless pit.

* * *

"Wake up! We're going into town!" Sagitari exclaimed while shaking Liu out of his sleep. He, as he usually did when the girl shook him awake, hit his head on the bed frame. With a grunt, he rubbed his head and sat up out of his bed. It seemed he was the last to wake up as Orphiucha, despite her closed eyes and untidied hair, sat up straight while Ursus was already walking to the bathroom.

"What's up? Isn't it a Saturday?" Liu grumbled as he slowly regained his bearings after dreaming.

Sagitari, with a grin and a twinkle in her eyes, joyfully announced Team SOUL's plans. "Today, we will be going clothes shopping for the dance! We'll get suits for Ursus and Liu, and dresses for me and Orphiucha!"

"Sounds good," Orphiucha muttered with a croak. "First, let me just..." Slowly, the girl laid her head back on the pillow.

Ursus raised his hand from the bathroom door in agreement.

"You know, Ursus, you don't need to be silent anymore!" Sagitari explained.

Ursus peeked his head out. "Sorry. I understand, but I haven't spoken in a while. It's… hard."

Sagitari gave a thumbs up. "Alright, then, don't worry about it! We'll work with you on it! But until then, let's go to the city! Do you agree, Liu?"

Unlike the three others, Liu had little desire to buy a suit for himself. Along with the fact that he had his own Mistral formal clothing he prepared for the dance, Liu was not in the mood to go shopping, especially when he had no one to go to the dance with. "I think maybe I'll hang ba-"

As her usual unpredictable self would do, Sagitari lifted Liu out of the bed and gave him a pro-wrestling pin on the ground. "Say you're coming with us!"

"Ow! Ow! But I already have my own clothes!"

"Say it!"

"Ow! Uncle! I'll go! I'll go!"

* * *

And thus, Liu was dragged into a suit shop by the people he sometimes had difficulty calling friends. After all, between the oblivious Ursus, the loud Sagitari, and the laughing Orphiucha, he felt a bit bitter today. All he could do now was sit around and wait for the day to end.

The clothing store they went to was a bit more on the higher-end of quality, so much so that the cashiers wore suits and waited at the check-out counter like robots. It was rather small, only about seven rows of shelves stood in the center of the store, but the place was premium in every other way. There was polish to every bit of metal in the place, and every single piece of clothing hung without wrinkle or spot. If there was a place to shop for suits and dresses, this would be the ideal place for someone to go. Unfortunately, Liu wasn't that person, and the lack of a bench forced Liu to walk around with Orphiucha, who kept laughing at his misfortune while forcing him to carry her dresses.

"Seriously?" she asked, "So just before you managed to ask her, she asked Ursus?"

"Oh, shut up," he pouted, "As if you've asked Sun out already."

"Well, you see," Orphiucha gloated, "We faunus are a far more patient people than you humans."

"Hey, patience is exactly what gave Sagitari the chance to ask Ursus."

"Well, I'm me, and you're you," she snorted before taking another dress and passing it over for Liu to carry. "Why get angry at them, though? It's not like they're going to the dance romantically."

"I've known that since the beginning! To tell you the truth, I... don't know."

Yet again, the snake of a girl chuckled. "Oh, the pains of adolescent love. Liu, you have a crush on Sagitari! Just accept it already."

He thought back to Sagitari. Indeed, in the beginning he did find her a tad strange, especially with her random exercises and loud voice, but as time with the team progressed, he found those traits of her's attractive. Originally an airhead to Liu, he now saw a genius in combat who had immense dedication and kindness for her friends. To top it off, he found her quite beautiful. Knowing this, did Liu truly only see her as a friend, or did he want more than that? Finally, he accepted it. After looking around to make sure the two other team members were out of earshot, he softly replied, "Fine, I do, alright? But how is that important now?"

Orphiucha threw yet another dress onto the pile that Liu held. "It shows why you're so upset with them. You just need to realize that Sagitari and Ursus are friends, through and through."

"Easier said than done. Anyways, if you want my advice, ask Sun as soon as possible. Otherwise, you'll end up like me."

"Like I'd take advice from you," the girl muttered. In other circumstances, Liu would have argued back, but he felt far too depressed to do so. He simply shook his head in frustration and shut up.

Orphiucha, seeing this, sighed and grabbed his wrist that hid under the stack of dresses. "Here. I can use your advice for one thing, at least."

* * *

Liu, finally finding a seat near the changing area in the back, watched at Orphiucha came out for the third time. The dress this time was black and sparkling, with a skirt that went to her knees. Similarly, the dress came with its own high-heels that Orphiucha, the most nimble of the group, had little difficulty wearing.

"Well, what do you think?" she embarrassingly asked with a little spin. Liu found that this dress, unlike the last few colorful ones, matched her white hair rather well. The material of the clothing also gave off a rather pleasant vibe, and even masked the usual death threats Orphiucha's viper stare gave.

"I think it's the best dress you've worn so far," Liu answered honestly. Though it did seem a bit bland with the dark color, it seemed to pair well with Orphiucha.

"I-is that so?" the girl asked while looking in the mirror to the left.

"If you don't like it, maybe you can wear a white sweater or scarf along with it."

"You know, you're being awfully helpful in this circumstance," Orphiucha continued as she spun again.

"Well, my older sister owns a clothes shop of her own in our hometown. In fact, she's the one who made my dance-."

"Not just that! I just meant that you're opening up a lot more. When we first met, you were obnoxiously shy. Seriously, in the courtyard on the first day, you stuttered like an engine. It honestly pissed me off, but now you're able to talk to me without stuttering."

Liu didn't realize how comfortable he had gotten with his teammates. Perhaps it was because of Orphiucha's own casual nature, but somehow he had transformed his entire way of talking with them. "I suppose you're right. I never realized it myself," he answered with surprise.

"That's all thanks to Team SOUL!" Sagitari exclaimed from the entrance of the changing room. Unlike Orphiucha, she was wearing a red dress with a skirt that went far above her knees. Ursus followed behind, wearing a generic fancy suit with a maroon tie.

"Pretty surprising they found your size," Orphiucha marveled at Ursus.

He embarrassingly nodded. "Yeah."

"If only you were trying on suits too, Liu! Then we could take a picture to remember this!" Sagitari gleamed.

"Yeah, if only," Liu replied bitterly. Even with Orphiucha's suggestion, he found himself in an upset state with the two other members.

"Well, we can do it on the day of the dance! Now, let's go find a secondary weapon for Liu!"

"Huh?" Liu breathed out. "But no one told me-"

"I know!" Sagitari happily huffed, "I just came up with it now!"

Liu groaned. That was definitely Sagitari. She just did what came to mind. Normally, Liu would find that trait of her's as pleasant, but today it just managed to aggravate him.

* * *

"So, we still can't find a secondary weapon for you, huh?" Sagitari moaned in dissatisfaction as the team all sat down on a bench in the city's park. Only across the street from the hunter's weapon shop, the park was brimming with civilians. The cobblestone entrance was nearly packed when the group got in. However, they managed to find a single free bench in a small circular resting area, situated nearby large amounts of foliage and greenery. Just barely big enough, the four had to squeeze in order to fully sit down.

With all that had happened today, Liu's energy felt all but drained. "Hmm," he hummed in response. Sitting near the center forced him to put his elbows on his knees as he rested his head on his hands. It was not comfortable, which only added to his hatred for today.

"Are you okay?" Ursus' un-trained voice managed to squeak out, finally noticing the dark feelings that radiated from Liu's direction.

The question should have made Liu feel better, but it instead became the straw that broke the camel's back. He got off his hands and stood up right away before turning back around the team. He was prepared to give Sagitari a tongue-lash on her rashness. He wanted to yell at Ursus for his inability to understand Liu's feelings. He even wanted to give Orphiucha a scolding on her grumpy nature. Before he could open his mouth, though, he looked into Ursus' eyes and saw innocence that, after all he had faced, didn't deserve a discussion about feelings and thoughts on Sagitari. He was just a gentle boy in a giant's body, which make Liu feel he couldn't do or say anything against his friend. With a regretful resignation, Liu sat back down in his spot. "I'm doing just fine. I just wanted to stretch."

"I know it's a bit tough being pulled around, Liu," Sagitari said with a smile, "But we're a team, and that means we do things together!"

"Right," he promptly, but apathetically, spoke.

Whatever would happen, he would just have to accept it, Liu assured himself. Even if he didn't want to. Even if Ursus and Sagitari grew to like each other more than just as friends. Even if-

Liu lightly slapped his face. Thinking like that only made him feel worse. Besides, Orphiucha was right. They were only friends, so Liu had to believe they weren't going to go further than that.

"Hey," Orphiucha whispered, "Do you hear that?" Liu stood upright at her comment, hearing the rustling of some bushes nearby. Hearing it as well, Sagitari immediately jumped over the bench's arm and into the moving bushes behind them.

"I think I found something!" she yelled.

A few more rustles later, and Sagitari came out with an annoyed face. "You won't believe what, or rather, who I found."

With a pull, a person came out of the leaves. The same chubby boy that had followed them a few days prior: Freddie.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Freddie whined while trying to pointlessly break free from Sagitari's superhuman grip. The binoculars on his neck seemed to imply he had followed them the entire day.

"Again?" Liu was somewhat impressed by his determination.

"This was the kid you all were talking about?" Orphiucha asked as she got off the bench and walked towards the stalker.

"My name is Freddie! And I'm no kid! I'm the same age as you four! Besides, I'm also a detective of justice, meant to show the true side of Ursus!"

The return of false accusations darkened Sagitari's expression. Her usual bubbly self dissipated, it seemed, and gave way to her serious side. "What? What do you get from harassing Ursus?"

"Sagitari, wait!" Liu screamed as she rose her fist.

"Do what you want, but I'm only revealing the truth behind his exterior!" Freddie obnoxiously claimed.

Orphiucha unusually rose her voice in response to their team leader's fighting position. "Sagitari, don't do it."

"He's a villain, through and through!" Freddie yelled with a smile.

That finally broke Sagitari. "Shut up!" In her anger, she threw her fist forward, intending on hitting him square in the jaw.

That was, until Ursus put his hand on her shoulder. "Please, let him go."

At the last second, Sagitari brought her momentum to a stop, directly in front of Freddie's face. The boy flinched, but was surprised to find himself unharmed. "Why should I? All this jerk says is the wrong stuff!" the girl exclaimed while shaking with rage.

"I don't want to become the wrong stuff, though. We need to be better than that," Ursus stoutly replied.

Sagitari closed her eyes and breathed deeply, but finally managed to put her fist down and throw Freddie onto the ground. With a crouch, Sagitari came face to face with their stalker. "If you ever mess with my team again, I will hurt you," she finally commanded him.

Freddie, too shocked to say anything, simply got off the grass and ran towards the entrance of the park, pushing past the people who spectated the whole situation. With a few more deep breaths, Sagitari's expression lightened up, and while she wasn't as excitable as before, she put a smile on her face and turned back to the team. "Thanks, Ursus."

Ursus replied with a nod, though he had a deep thankful look in his eyes.

Orphiucha patted the giant on his back, as well. She wore a small grin. "Glad you managed to stop her in time. That would have looked bad for Sagitari."

Moments like this would be where teams got closer together. It was happening for Sagitari, Orphiucha, and Ursus. However, Liu simply stood and stared at the three. From the start of the day to now, his emotions became more complicated. Why did Sagitari stop with Ursus' request? Why not Liu's? It confounded him even more. He looked at Sagitari, and a compound of negative emotions flooded him, not unlike what he felt when he first came to Beacon. The thought that the two liking each other opened a far larger can of worms than Liu expected. He wanted to say he wasn't alone. He wanted to say he was a part of the team. But, he was weak. Far weaker than the others. His semblance held no candle to Ursus or Sagitari's, and even though he had practiced the muscle and brain enhancements he had tried before, it still hurt and left him with soreness that stayed for a while, making the ability useless in battle. On top of that, he still could not find a secondary weapon that worked well with him, and while he had practiced quite a bit of gymnastics Orphiucha showed him, it couldn't be implemented into his fighting at all.

Neither did Sagitari have eyes for him. She had eyes for Ursus, Liu thought. Why else would she stop upon Ursus' request?

It returned again, Liu's thoughts. He was alone. He was weak. Why should he train? Why should he care? His train of thought led him to one central idea. One thing that shook him to his core, and forced him into silence for the rest of the day:

Liu was dead weight.

* * *

Freddie fell to his hands and knees in front of the blue-haired man and his large gang. Their hideout was somewhat small, but it still gave an atmosphere that scared the boy.

"So," Jazz answered in the darkness, "You want me to find Ursus and get some answers from him?"

"Yes! After all, we came from the same primary-"

"Shut up," he interrupted with a kick. Freddie fell on his back from the force, just in front of the single light, which now shined over Jazz. The light bulb revealed a long scar that was situated over his nose. "We aren't on the same level you and I. Sure, I got expelled. I didn't go on to a secondary fighting academy either, but that doesn't mean I can't handle any hunter in training, unlike you. Regardless, I'll accept the job.

Freddie got back up on his feet in relief. "That's... that's great! I''ll pay you anything you want, just please reveal the truth about Ursus."

The gang, upon hearing that, started laughing. "Oh, you don't need to pay me anything," Jazz replied with a smile, "After all, I have a score to settle with him."

* * *

(Author's Note: Welcome to Author's Note... Corner... or something... Anyways, thanks for reading _RWBY: Revenant_! This a fun thing to write, and I'm especially surprised of the "Before" chapters' popularity. If you like this, then why don't you follow, review, or read the "After" chapters, too? Oh, and speaking of which, today I want to do a STRAW POLL! I want to see Team SOUL's popularity, and who is the most and least popular of the group currently. Hopefully this will work, but anyways, here's the link: ".me/18915128" Go ahead and write the word "strawpoll" on your search bar, copy and past that link after it, and let me know who you like the most! Hopefully, this website is fine with me doing something like this. After all, when I went to save the document, it seemed to delete anything that had a website sounding name to it... Anyways, thanks again for reading _RWBY: Revenant! _Have a good morning/afternoon/night and God bless!)


	19. Chapter 19: Before (FILLER)

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 19: (FILLER) Before – Cooking

(WARNING: This chapter does not take place during the current "before" chapters.)

(Author's Note: Hey everyone! This is just a fun chapter to let you all know that I'm still alive. I'm just working on a quite intense, and long, couple of chapters. I have one more to go... but I still need to edit them as well. As such, this is just a short chapter not related to the main story. Hopefully, the next set of chapters (which are both "Before" chapters) will be finished sometime this week. Until then, stay cool, follow this story, or get a game on the playstation black friday sale.)

Pandemonium filled the kitchen as Sagitari held a flaming pot in her hands. Ursus was currently knocked-out on the ground, while Orphiucha was using her batons to freeze the areas that the grease fire had expanded towards. In the middle of this, Liu simply sat and stared, watching as the blaze in Sagitari's hand grew even larger and reached the ceiling.

In this moment of pure panic, he could only respond in one way.

"….What?"

* * *

**A few moments prior…**

Liu grumbled while sitting at his dorm table. He was just about finished with his homework, but something kept distracting him. A strong craving.

"What's up?" Sagitari asked. She was sitting on her bed, reading the latest of her favorite comics while her classwork was scattered across the floor.

"Hmm… I really want to eat," Liu muttered.

"Sheesh, you sound like Sagitari," Orphiucha chuckled. She was also doing homework like Liu, though she preferred doing it on her bed.

"What are you in the mood for? Burgers? Ramen?" Sagitari asked, sitting on the edge of her bed with eyes twinkling. If there was one thing she was just as passionate about other than training, it was food.

Liu stood up. "Mistral food…"

"Mistral food, huh? Well, unfortunately, it's a bit late to leave the dorms," Orphiucha replied before turning back to her classwork.

Liu suddenly had an idea. "I know! I'll make some in the dorm kitchen!"

Sagitari leapt off her bed excitingly. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go! I've never had food from Mistral before!"

"But I still have…" Before Orphiucha could reject their decision, Sagitari grabbed her and put her on her own shoulders like a wounded lamb.

"Come on! We don't have any time to lose! If we're lucky, the kitchen won't have anyone inside it."

"Wait, Sagita-" Sagitari was the first one to run out of the room, holding a yelling Orphiucha in her arms.

"What a leader, huh? She must really want to try it out," Liu joked to Ursus, who had just come out of the bathroom. As such, he just stared back cluelessly.

* * *

With a recipe searched up on his scroll, Liu started his quest to create a Mistral dish. He had the ingredients, the supplies, and even the chef hat. Only one issue was prevalent at the start: He had no idea how to cook. Being a seventeen-year old boy, he found he could make a good bowl of cereal and toast. That was it. When it came to cooking, he left it to his other family members.

But Liu was far from giving up. After all, cooking was just simple assembly, right? You put one thing together with another thing to make another thing. Simple. So, with sleeves pulled back, Liu started his work.

"Can you do it?" Sagitari questioned from behind.

Liu calmed himself and nodded. "This will be easy."

Haphazardly, and perhaps too calmly, Liu pulled the knife out of the knife block and pulled a carrot out of a bag nearby. With help from his training these past few months, Liu was able to cut through the carrot with little difficulty. _Chop, chop, chop._ Liu moved at a steady rhythm, making sure not to cut too close to his fingers. Surprisingly, it moved rather smoothly. With the proportion of the slices on point, Liu calmed more and more and settled his vulnerable fingers. He was-

"Hey, you know you're supposed to peel a carrot first, right?" Orphiucha hinted.

"Huh? What do you-"

_Chop!_ The odd and misplaced chopping sound, far different from the last few, made Liu straighten up. The odd pain he felt on his finger also seemed to stun him a bit. That was when the realization hit him. Slowly, he turned over to the cutting board, with the peripherals revealing a the knife, a few slices of carrots-

And a small piece of the tip of his finger.

It was very small. In no way would it impede him in fighting, nor would it keep him from being able to move his finger, but about half of his nail was caught in the carnage. The sight of blood was one thing, but the fingernail? That forced Liu into comatose. He felt his legs grow weak, and soon he felt his eyesight grow darker. Somewhat shaking, he showed his finger to the crew behind him.

"I…. uh, I had an accident," he muttered weakly before falling on the ground.

* * *

With little difficulty, Orphiucha bandaged the finger on the unconscious Liu. _Sheesh, what a baby_, she thought to herself. However, with the main chef out of the way, it was time for Orphiucha to start cooking. She stood back up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen area, where Sagitari was putting on the apron.

"Allow me," Orphiucha promptly said as she took the apron instead. She knew that Sagitari's cooking would only serve to destroy. Not only did she leave destruction in her wake when it came to cooking, but if she managed to finish, she would leave a dish that was only rivaled by rotting flesh in inedibility.

Besides, Orphiucha was already proficient in cooking. Coming home earlier than her working mother gave her the chance to learn how to cook all by herself. While she was a little rocky at the beginning, cooking soon became one of her best skills.

As she usually would when she cooked, Orphiucha started with a toss of the knife, letting it spin in the air for a while. If she was going to be cooking, she may as well be flashy. Deftly, she grabbed the handle out of the air and started peeling the carrot with it.

"Wow!" Sagitari exclaimed. Ursus applauded as well.

"Yes," Orphiucha gloated, "You may as well understand the gap between you and me, Tari." Finishing the peeling process, she put the carrot down and started chopping it.

"Hey, Orphiucha. Can you do the toss again?"

"I guess I have no choice," she gloated yet again. With the flick of her wrist, the tossed the knife far higher this time. The knife juggled in the air suspenseful, yet already Orphiucha could predict which area the hilt would soon land. Preparing for it, she put her hand in position, directly below the dangerous, sharp object.

Unexpectedly, Sagitari grabbed Orphiucha's shoulder and reached forward. "Let me grab it this time!"

Orphiucha was forced to turn her attention away from the falling knife. "Hey, hey! Stop, you're going to-"

Instantly, the feeling of something sharp hit her hand. Sagitari's eyes widened at the sight and pulled herself back. Orphiucha swallowed in fear, and slowly turned over to the sight. Coming from the side of her left peripherals, she first saw the cutting board, then the carrot-

Then, the knife going directly through her palm. She stared at the stab wound for a while before finally looking at the worried Ursus and Sagitari.

"Well, fu-"

* * *

After that absurd, but perhaps appropriately used, amount of expletives, Orphiucha sat by the unconscious Liu with a bandaged hand while Sagitari and Ursus were in the kitchen area. Fortunately, Ursus was quick to volunteer for the cooking job.

"Well," Sagitari saluted, "Good luck!"

Ursus nodded with a hardened determination as he put on the small apron. Now it was his time to shine.

"Don't get distracted," Orphiucha muttered from across the room as she pointed at Sagitari. However, Ursus was prepared. Looking at the still-open scroll, Ursus started his prep, beginning on the new set of vegetables. Indeed, Ursus was very proficient with cooking. In order to make friends, he learned several kinds of cooking styles, including Mistral food. He wanted to let his friends give the cooking a try first, but with two of them out of commission, he felt it was time to keep that from continuing.

Without any toss, Ursus grabbed the knife and started chopping the rest of the vegetables. Each piece fell with no difficulty into a proportionally perfect pile. It was like a battle field with Ursus and his quick chopping. Another onion fell. Another scallion surrendered. He made quick work of any and every food item in his way.

"Pan," he said to Sagitari, signaling for her to grab the pan under the counter. Taking the sound of rustling as her understanding his meaning, he finished all the vegetables and turned on the stove. With almost no effort, he got around to chopping the raw meat.

"Is this what you want?" Sagitari asked from behind. Ursus proficiently finished chopping the last of the meat, and made a fast turn over to Sagitari. He expected her to be holding it at a much lower height than directly at face level. However, when he made the turn, he ended up hitting his head on something. Hard.

And before he knew it, he fell in unconsciousness.

* * *

Sagitari looked down at Ursus, who fell onto the ground. "Sorry! I didn't realize you'd turn so fast!"

"Sagitari! Whatever you do, don't cook! Turn off the stove!" Orphiucha exclaimed as she dashed down to Ursus' side.

"Oh, come on, Orph! What's the worst that could happen?" After carrying Ursus to the couch area, she took the pan in hand, against the wishes of Orphiucha.

"Please! Whatever you do, do not put the food in the pan!"

"This will be a walk in the park, Orphiucha! I just need to put the food in the pan, and…"

* * *

Liu awoke to the scene of a burning pan in Sagitari's hand, Orphiucha shooting ice from her batons, and Ursus laying on the ground asleep. What was just a simple night of cooking turned into a deadly blaze.

"You know, maybe I should have gotten take out instead," Liu softly spoke to himself amid the confusion.

* * *

The four sat outside the dormitory as firefighters made quick work of the fire inside. Thankfully, the fire was only limited to the kitchen, so no other students were injured. That didn't stop the entire academy population from evacuation, or giving them dirty looks as they passed. It probably wouldn't stop every single professor from scolding them or giving them extra essays either. But for now, the group sat on the grass, watching as the last of the firefighters exited the building and signaled for everyone to go back inside.

"Let's make a pact to never cook again," Orphiucha groaned as she laid down in the grass.

"Then let's get delivery!" Sagitari exclaimed.

"What do you want then?" Liu asked. After what had happened, he decided to give up on his craving for Mistral food.

"Pizza?"

"Let's do hot dogs!"

"Salad."

"Ursus, you want a salad?"

Ursus nodded as he rubbed his head wound.

"I'm starting to crave meatloaf, strangely," Liu said.

"Alright," Sagitari cheered. She pulled out her scroll.

"One mega, no-cooking-required food delivery coming up!"


	20. Chapter 20: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 20: Before – Unity

Today was another nightly training session, as per usual. Orphiucha and Ursus did their stretches while Sagitari shadow boxed at the air. Typically, Liu would join them, but today he was feeling wrong. Desperately wrong. As if the team he had been with for a few months now was, in fact, the place where he didn't belong. They were hardened fighters who had grown at an incredible rate since the start of the academic year while he was a newbie who still struggled to hold his own for a minute in a friendly spar.

"Alright, are you ready to start, Liu?" Sagitari asked from across the circular concrete area, where he was sitting.

"Ready," he waved back as he stood up and walked forward. Of course, mentally and emotionally he was far from prepared. He had never been good at understanding what people thought, but sometimes, he swore he saw the same look in the team's eyes that he saw in his father's: disappointment. Liu could easily guess they wanted a better teammate who could fight on par with them. He knew they didn't hate him, but in no way did they see him as an equal. Their initial choice to bring him into the team was unfounded, with the only evidence of his usefulness being their battle with the tiger grimm. In the end, he fell down to the status of Team SOUL's disappointment. Team SOUL's burden. Now, he was beginning to see why he was the last letter of the team name.

"Alright, let's start with a quick spar session. Liu, you and I will start!" Sagitari cheerfully explained. Liu nodded as he took a battle stance with his practice blade.

Then, there was the issue with Sagitari. Liu was somewhat convinced that she and Ursus had no romantic feelings between one another, but in the hierarchy of relationships, Liu was the lowest of the team. Between Orphiucha, who had been friends with Sagitari since youth, and Ursus, whom Sagitari actually listened to, Liu laughed at the idea of asking her to the dance. She wasn't perfect, but her kindness and strength overshadowed every aspect of Liu. Thus, he had been forced to come to terms that he bought nothing special to the team.

If anything, he weighed the team down.

"Alright, ready?" Sagitari took her fighting pose.

Liu nodded.

"Then, let's…. start!"

As expected from the past months, Sagitari dashed forward, right fist positioned for a liver strike. Liu shook his head and observed. He had to give this all one more try before completely giving up. He had to make sure he could still benefit the team. In all the past spars with Sagitari, Liu always tried to dodge away, trying to create distance between him and the girl. This time, he swallowed any stress or fear and dashed forward to meet her. Sagitari had a look of surprise, but kept her mad sprint forward. She was like a wild bull, further making Liu worry about the ramifications of his decision. However, he couldn't give up yet. Just before the two met in battle, Liu brought his sword down from the air to create a vertical slice with one hand. Sagitari moved out of the way with no difficulty, but that was what Liu wanted. Just barely moving away from her punch towards his face, Liu twisted his blade around and slashed horizontally, hoping to hit her in the gut. He was about to finally get one hit on the girl, he could hardly believe it! With determination, his sword came forward and-

The practice blade was immediately blocked by Sagitari, who easily grabbed the flat side of the sword with her free hand. Liu, with little time to react, tried his best to pull the sword back. He used all of his strength with his two hands, but the sword barely even budged from Sagitari's light, one-handed grip.

Again, feelings of uselessness and disappointment filled Liu, but seeing how easily he was stopped also introduced anger. Why was he always the loser against his teammates? Why did they always seem better, even after he trained the same as they did? In a rage, Liu reached into his electric semblance and injected it into his arm muscles, hoping to give his arms strength to make the sword budge. If his normal strength couldn't equal Sagitari's, how about his augmented strength? He felt his muscles painfully bulge with renewed strength as his grip on the hilt increased.

In Liu's imagination, he expected his control of the new-found ability would get better. He thought he could take the blade and manage to skillfully pull it out of Sagitari's handle. After a month of practice, he had thought his arms wouldn't uncontrollably spaz at the foreign electrical element introduced into them, as they did the first time he used it.

And still, his semblance proved useless.

Liu screamed in immense pain. Rather than give him the strength he needed, his arms chose to instead let go of the sword and remain in a frozen state of grasping the air. The pain proved too much and Liu fell to his knees as he immediately retracted the electricity from his muscles. Still, his arms were hesitant to return control, and all Liu could do was sit there as he arms reached into the air like a statue.

"Liu, are you okay?! I thought we said you shouldn't be using your semblance yet," Sagitari worried as she put her hand on Liu's back, which felt like a dagger to him.

All of Liu's negative emotions came out in an instant, like a bottle becoming too full of water. Once he regained control of his arms, he pushes Sagitari's hand away. "Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why? Why have I never gotten better? Why can I never beat any of you in a spar?"

Though the outburst was an unpleasant surprise, Sagitari quickly tried to comfort him. "Come on, Liu! You've gotten much better! You've just had a rough start! That's all it-"

"Oh, don't lie to me," Liu interrupted, "I've seen the look in your eyes that I've always seen. My dad, my teachers, everyone gives me those looks when they see how weak I am. And you know what? All of you are right. My semblance is completely impractical. I fight with a single one-handed sword while everyone else uses mechanical weapons with special abilities. And I can't even get myself to really hurt someone! Sparing with you three is fine, but against others? I freeze up at the moment I try to attack."

Liu got up from the floor. He looked around to the shocked faces around him. With their attention still on him, Liu finished with what he wanted to say since last week. "I… don't… think I should be a part of this team anymore. I'm only a burden to you guys."

"What… what are you saying?" Sagitari asked with wide eyes.

"Liu?" Ursus asked from behind.

"I'm saying I'm going to transfer out of the school. Tomorrow, I'll send in my resignation and drop out."

"But… didn't you say you wanted to be a hunter?" Sagitari inquired.

Liu clinched his fists. "Of course! I want so much to help others like I was helped. But… I don't have the ability to do so."

Strangely, Ursus was the next to start. "Liu, please, don't-"

"If that's how you're going to be, then go," Orphiucha firmly stated.

Sagitari turned over in anger. "Orph! Don't be like that! This is our friend!"

"This is our _teammate, _too_._ And can you disagree with what he's said?"

"That…" Sagitari stopped trying to argue, further depressing Liu.

Orphiucha sighed. "Well, I will admit, it'll be sad to see you go, Liu. Just one thing: Do you want to leave, or do you just think we want you to leave?"  
"I… don't want to leave," Liu whispered to himself. In truth, even with all of the issues he brings, he didn't want to leave. Rather, he knew that if Team SOUL was to get better, they would need to take him out.

"What did you say?" Orphiucha tapped her foot in impatience.

"I'm… gonna go!" Liu, unsure of how to respond, sprinted as fast as he could away from the group. He wasn't sure what the destination would be, he just wanted to get out of the place as fast as possible.

* * *

Ursus sat in his bed looking at the second, empty bed left of him. It had been a few hours since Liu's outburst, and after a quick search around the area, Sagitari had decided it was best for him to cool down before coming back to the dorm. Only then could they convince him from leaving. Still, Ursus never realized how troubled Liu felt. There was no doubt he's inexperienced when it came to fighting, but he was still an important part of the team.

More than that, he was a cherished friend. Ursus would lose an arm before giving up on his new friends.

With nothing more to do, Ursus rolled over. The sooner he slept, he sooner this whole issue ended and Liu returned back to the dorm. Slowly he closed his eyes, and...

_Vrrrrt!_

Ursus's scroll vibrated and lit up on his nightstand, causing him to unwillingly sit back up. Rubbing his eyes and leaning upwards, Ursus unlocked the password, expecting a simple message from his mother. What he got instead made him nearly jump out of his bed.

_Hey,_ the message read, _can you meet me outside? I want to talk with you about something. _From Liu.

Ursus looked across the room, where the two girls were sound asleep. _Are you okay, Liu? _

_Yeah, I just needed to figure some things out._ _Just you, though._

Ursus, with no hesitation, got out of bed and put on his shoes. Quickly, he put the scroll in his pocket and, without changing out of his pajamas, quietly tip-toed from his bed to the door. With small movements, he squeezed out and silently closed . If Liu wanted him alone, he would go. Perhaps it was a man-to-man topic that Ursus could help with. Regardless, he would do anything for the team. They saw through his fearful size and figure, into his true character. They stayed patient with him while he kept silent. For the first time in his life, he had made friends. True friends. Thus, he had come to the belief that he would do anything for them.

He would even walk into a trap.

* * *

"And…. There we go. He should be coming out now," the strange woman said as she handed Liu's scroll over to the blue-haired guy. Liu, try as he might, could not break free from the four people that held him down.

"You're a tough guy, but luckily we managed to restrain you," he chuckled while walking towards Liu.

Liu tried to recall the events that led him here. As he remembered, after he ran from the team, he stopped in the courtyard where he waited for a while, trying to recover his thoughts.

_Liu sat on the bench, thinking about if he truly wanted to leave or not. It didn't matter, though. He was a detriment. _

_While thinking a few strange figures showed up in the shadows. Startled, Liu jumped up and got into an un-armed fighting stance that he had learned from Sagitari. _

_ One figure came forward speedily. Compared to Sagitari, however, they were nothing in terms of speed. Liu easily dodged their attack. Another one came forward. Again, Liu dodged an onslaught of attacks fluidly. He was impressed he had learned this much. His amazement quickly ended when he tried to attack, though. Again, his fist only shook, and he had to get back to dodging. _

_This time, two others came forward. Finally, Liu started having trouble dodging attacks from four of them. He barely managed to get away from their fists, and it felt like each attack only got closer and closer to his face. These unknown assailants only needed one more guy and they would-_

_As expected, one more came out of the shadows. Finally, Liu took a hit to the gut, which gave an opening for the others to attack as well._

Now, Liu laid on the ground, where he tried, violently, to break free. He wasn't sure what was going on, but the blue-haired guy, who Liu believed was their leader, gave very bad vibes. His message to Ursus also made Liu worry immensely. Why go after him? What did he want to do with Ursus? Liu was confused, until…

"N-now, you won't do anything bad, right?" a voice spoke from behind Liu. He managed to bring his head up to find the same chubby figure he had seen many times already.

"Freddie?! Of course it's you! Why can't you just leave Ursus alone?"

Freddie turned around. "B-because he's bad!"

"No, he isn't! He's-"

Immediately, Liu's speech was stopped by a kick to his side, causing his diaphragm to spasm. The blue-haired individual came around to the front and bent down. "Oh, I know myself how evil Ursus can be. Isn't that right, guys?" The question was met with a plethora of agreements and nods.

The man pointed at his nose, where a long scar ran. "See, he gave me this scar. Now I want to… have a friendly chat with him about it."

Suddenly, Liu had an epiphany about who this man could be. "Wait a minute, you're-"

"Jazz!" a new voice yelled from across the concrete center at the front of the dorms. With a wicked smile, Jazz turned around towards Ursus, who had a face that showed a mixture of anger, confusion, and fear.

"Why, hello, Ursus! What's with the sour look? Aren't you happy to see an old friend?"

Ursus gave no response to the question. "Let Liu go."

"Oh, you mean my hostage? Sorry, but he's kind of important for me. He helps me get things done."

Ursus walked with clinched fists towards the guy. Jazz came forward with a grin, even if he was a full head shorter than Ursus. "I mean it, Jazz."

"Well… I suppose I could make an offer. I like to have an equal number of hostages, and since I have one right now… well, I can't very well just give him away, can I? So, here's the deal: I give him to you and you-"

"Done," Ursus said.

"Ursus, what are you doing?!" Liu groaned from his lowered position. He knew he was not worth the sacrifice that Ursus was about to give.

"It's fine, Liu," Ursus responded with a smile.

"No! D-damn it! You can't do this! I'm not worth it!"

"Liu," Ursus said as he came up to Liu, who was finally let go, "You are my friend. That makes it worth it."

"N-no!" Liu was not going to let Ursus run away. He got back into a fighting position and stood in front of Ursus, between the gang and him. "You're my friend, too! Can't I defend you as well?"

"Sorry," Ursus said from behind, "But this is my own past. I have to deal with it."

Suddenly, Liu felt a strong force strike him on the back of his neck. Though the hit was painless, it seemed to rattle his brain quite a bit. Liu felt his legs grow weaker and his eyesight darker. Try as he might, the overcoming darkness proved too much for him.

"Damn it," Liu groaned as he started falling, but not before Ursus grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from hitting the ground. "I'm still too weak to do anything."

"Liu," Ursus, sounding more and more distant, voiced, "You've already done a lot. You, Sagitari, and Orphiucha. Now, I'm going to pay you all back. I promise you, this won't end badly. I'll come back and…."

* * *

"Liu?! Are you alright?" Sagitari's voice slowly increased in volume as Liu returned to consciousness. His vision brightened to find Sagitari and Orphiucha standing above him, the daylight outlining their figures. He was back in the dorm room. "We brought you back after getting a strange message you were unconscious outside. You just woke up after a few hours of sleeping."

Liu shook his head as he recalled the events. Quickly he stood up, but not before the blood rushed to his head and he almost fell back down. Sagitari managed to hold him back up, luckily. "Hey, slow down!" Orphiucha said from behind.

"It's… Ursus," Liu croaked out. "He's been kidnapped!"

* * *

Chapter 20.5: Before – The Search Begins

Ursus woke up in a chair, his hands and legs forcibly tied up. He felt some of the blood drip from his nose, onto the pajama pants he was wearing. Jazz didn't even give him the decency to change his clothes, it seemed.

Coincidentally, the door of the warehouse he was in opened at the same time, revealing the same blue-haired tough guy as before, wearing a wicked smile. "Oh, glad to see you're up! The only thing that would make me happier is if you talked a bit more."

Ursus kept silent, his head turned away towards the giant, metal crates lined up against the wall. In his peripherals, though, he saw Freddie following the taller gangster, a look a discomfort on his face. He didn't follow him, however, when Jazz came forward and slammed his fist into Ursus' gut.

"Come on, can't you say anything? Didn't you used to say a lot back in the day?"

Again, he slammed another fist into Ursus' gut. Even with the aura Ursus had up, he could still feel some of the pain. Once his aura disappeared, Ursus was worried that he would actually take damage. For a third time, he took a punch from Jazz, this time to the face.

"H-hey," Freddie spoke from behind, "I know he's bad, but-"

Jazz's laugh interrupted Freddie's disagreement. "This guy? Bad? He couldn't litter even if he wanted!"

"But he-"

"Trust me, Fred," Jazz said as he put his elbow on Ursus' broad shoulder, "This guy followed me and the gang for a week. If there were any true colors, they were all laid out in the beginning."

"But that's not fair! You told me-"

"I lied, Freddie. Sheesh, your naivety annoys me so much." With a snap of Jazz's fingers, two of the gang members came from behind and grabbed Freddie.

"But, why?! Stop! I didn't come here to…" Freddie continued to yell as he was violently dragged out of the abandoned warehouse.

"What an annoying guy. I can't believe he even went to the same primary academy as we did," Jazz jeered as he watched the door close again. With Freddie gone, he turned back around. "Now then… what will I do with you? Oh! I know!"

With his idea came a knife, which Jazz pulled out of his pocket. "How about I give you what you gave me?"

* * *

It was 11 o'clock. Class had started, students were studying, and professors were teaching. If a student was seen outside of class, that resulted in a consequence of immediate punishment. While some professors were soft with an essay or two, as what happened with Liu, others had the power to petition for suspension. Thus, many students were quick to class, early to leave. Of course, you could sneak in and out of class, considering the size of Beacon and the few professors who walked the halls at the time, but it was a risk far too great.

Sagitari and her team would have to deal with it. They needed to find Ursus.

"So the one guy he talked about showed up?" Sagitari asked as the three walked out of the dorms, wearing casual clothing with their weapons in sheaths.

"Yeah, the Jazz guy. He had maybe… twenty others?"

"That'll be tough, then," Orphiucha muttered, "Just the three of us?"

Liu stopped. He had to stop lying to himself that he was as strong as them. "Don't you mean just the two of you?"

Sagitari and Orphiucha turned around. "Liu," Sagitari inquired with a look of concern on her face, "What do you mean?"

Liu held his fist in the air in frustration. "I literally can't fight! Anytime I try to attack, I freeze up. I'll just be a nuisance. Besides, I'm not a part of the-"

Orphiucha groaned out loud. "Seriously, are you still saying that? Liu, remember what I asked? Do you want to be a part of the team or not?"

His eyes widened. "Of course I do!"

"Well, there it is, finally!" Orphiucha rolled her eyes.

"Liu, why did you say you wanted to leave then?" Sagitari asked.

"Well… I felt like I was weighing you all down. Especially with the tournament coming up, I thought that it would be best if you got a better teammate."

"Do you seriously think that's the only reason we have team members?" Orphiucha continued. "Liu, teammates help one another, regardless of strength. Why do you think I continue with Sagitari's training or the weapon shopping we do for you? Because we're a team, even if you two are humans."

Liu was hesitant, but he felt clearer in his head. He nodded. "But… I'll just freeze up when we go to save Ursus."

Sagitari grinned. "I don't think that'll happen. Like Orphiucha said, we're a team. Remember that, and I'm sure your strength will come through."

Liu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His mind felt far calmer and free. Was it truly disappointment he saw? Even if it was, he knew his friends still cared for him and wanted him to get better. That enough gave him the strength to help save Ursus. In an instant, the belief that his abilities were disliked by his teammates was shattered. He opened his eyes. "Okay, I understand. I will fight with you."

Sagitari cheered out loud and grabbed Liu in a big bear hug, making him blush intensely. "I'm so glad you're back. Seriously, I was so scared and-"

"Who's there?!" a voice yelled from one of the building's windows.

"Scram!" Orphiucha yelled as she pushed the two towards the city.

* * *

"Oh no, please don't ask him to help…" Liu groaned as the three sat on a city bench during class hours, just outside Beacon's entrance.

"We need someone else! Just the three of us won't be enough. Besides, he gave us his scroll number after all," Orphiucha defended as Sagitari dialed her scroll.

"But isn't he in class?"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll respond…" Orphiucha rolled her eyes.

After a few rings, Sagitari quickly spoke to her device. "Hello! We could really use your help, Athos…."

* * *

In under five minutes, a spinning, tan student came from the entrance of the academy with his typical Musketeer hat. Upon sight of the girls, Athos bowed gracefully. "My goddesses! Upon your request, I have arrived!"

Sagitari giggled at the flamboyant entrance while Orphiucha sighed. "We really could use your help, Athos! Some people took our team member!"

Athos looked up in slight disgust. "By teammate, you don't mean…?"

Liu really disliked this guy. "I'm right here!"

Athos smiled, and quickly jumped between Liu and the girls. "Alright, then I shall provide any assistance needed! Where are we to first look?"

"Well, first we'll… Huh… Hey, Liu. Where do we look?"

Liu tried to shake his brain for any information on the gang that jumped him. "I don't have any idea. They attacked me when I was in the courtyard."

Athos snickered. "Hmm, seems the Xiu-spawn still can't hold his own against some minor hoodlums!"

Liu gritted his teeth. "For your information, it took five of them to take me down! I just… couldn't…. fight back."

Orphiucha smacked the back of Athos' head, whose heart-shaped eyes refused to close. "Then we have no leads on finding Ursus."

Suddenly, a weak voice came from behind the group. "I… can help you with that."

The four looked back to find the same chubby kid who kept his constant accusations about Ursus close to his heart. Freddie stood there, but kept his guilty eyes turned away. "I know where they're keeping him at."

Sagitari ran up, quicker than anyone could react, and grabbed Freddie by his collar. "You again?! What, you just want to gloat while our friend is getting beaten up? Maybe even worse?"

Freddie's eyed her in fear. "No! Truly, I want to help! Jazz wasn't who he said he is, and now he's torturing Ursus! I can't stand for that! That's not justice."

Sagitari, like before, created a fist with her open hand. "Do you really want to talk more and more about 'justice' after what you've done?"

"I'm sorry! Really! I understand that what I did was wrong!"

"Wait!" Liu yelled as he ran up and put his hand on her fist. "I think Freddie is telling the truth. Let him go." Orphiucha nodded in agreement, while Athos' heart-shaped eyes continued to idolized Sagitari's strength.

The team leader looked back at Liu with eyes of fury, but closed them and nodded. She hesitantly let go of Freddie and took three steps back. Liu was so flabbergasted at how angry Sagitari got when it came to her teammates. "Okay," she spoke through her teeth, "Lead the way, Freddie."

* * *

"Hey, Orphiucha, what's up with Sagitari?" Liu asked as they followed Freddie through the streets. The two were taking the back while Sagitari and Athos followed Freddie from directly behind him.

"What do you mean?" Orphiucha muttered.

"She's typically very nice and easy-going, but when it came to Freddie, she was quick to anger. Three times in a row, she almost nailed him in the face."

"It's Sagitari. She's always unpredictable."

Liu shook his head. "This time it was different, though. I've seen her usual 'anger,' like when she did a wrestling pin on me that one day. On the other hand, when she grabs Freddie, it's like she's possessed. It's like the Sagitari I know suddenly disappears."

Orphiucha cleared her throat. "So? Like I said, she's unpredictable."

"But Sagitari always has a loud voice, and when she grabbed Freddie, her voice-"

"That's enough!" Orphiucha interrupted. The three in the front looked back at her and Liu.

"What's wrong? If I can help, please let me know, my snake goddess!" Athos' tongue danced.

"Nothing is wrong. Liu just said a gross joke," Orphiucha said without a stutter. At that response, Athos pulled his sword out on Liu, which made him flinch backwards.

"Then I shall be the one to put this cur to rest!"

Thankfully, Sagitari grabbed Athos' rapier before he made any sort of move. "Uh, we kinda need Liu if we're going to fight twenty or more people!"

Athos sighed, but put down his weapon. "I shall delay my judgement until then. Let us continue our walk."

So, the five continued moving again. However, Liu was far from satisfied. Why did Sagitari and Orphiucha both react strangely anytime Liu tried to pry about their past or who they were? It was obvious by now to Liu.

"Orphiucha," Liu continued, "You and Sagitari are hiding something, aren't you?"

Orphiucha kept quiet.

Liu nodded. "I understand, I won't talk any more about the topic. Just… we're friends. I do wish we could talk openly with one another in the future."

Orphiucha still kept quiet, though a shimmer in her eyes seemed to indicate that she desired to tell Liu the truth. Even if she acted like she didn't, she did care from Sagitari. For Ursus. For Liu. She was a strange person, but Liu cared for her as well. So, he would wait until the pair could tell their past. He would be patient with them, as they had been patient with him in training.

Of course, he couldn't think much about that. He had to prepare mentally for the task at hand. For rescuing Ursus.

* * *

"We're here," Freddie mumbled as the group came to a large warehouse, several alleyways behind a deserted street. It was rather large, perhaps originally used for large shipments, but the age and condition of the area around it seemed to indicate that it was out of use. The fence around the area was greatly rusted, with some segments completely broken apart. Cracks littered the ground around, with foliage and weeds spewing out of every kind of opening. Still, this all just made it perfect for kidnapping.

"What a destitute place," Athos complained as he kicked a piece of broken concrete into the air, and proceeded to cut it to shreds with his rapier. He looked to the girls for adoration, yet no one watched him.

Inside the warehouse, there were sounds of grunts. "So, this is the place?" Liu asked.

"Y-yes, I followed Jazz's gang all the way here a few times." Freddie cowered as Sagitari walked forward.

The team leader slowly rubbed her fingers on the paint-chipped, scrap-metal wall of the warehouse. "This wall feels weak."

Almost excitedly, Sagitari put her brass knuckles on. "Everyone, stand back."

Orphiucha, Athos, Freddie, and Liu all looked at one another. "Uh, Tari," Orphiucha said, "What are you going to do?"

The girl looked back with a big and determined grin. She held her fist up. "I'm gonna break it!"

* * *

It had been an hour since Ursus' aura ran out. Now, each punch or cut he took, he truly took. Even in this condition, though, he had to be thankfully for his tough body. He had yet to break a bone or dislodge a joint. That wasn't the same for the knife Jazz held, though. Now, Ursus wore a long scar over his nose, identical to Jazz's own. Still, all of this was for the team, and he was far from giving up. He knew eventually Jazz would have to let him go. Jazz may be bad, but he was too much of a coward to kill people.

Speaking of the devil, Jazz had walked back to Ursus from the back of the warehouse, wearing a metal glove.

"You know," Jazz said, "I was really, really angry at you for what you did before. Beating up my entire gang? Knocking me unconscious? Leaving me with this scar to remember my failure? It really got me fired up. I even almost gave up on the crime life. But, I found that I had to be thankful, too."

He pointed at the scar. "People started actually being scared of me! It really helped with my image. People though I had fought against a powerful grimm! Or that I had beaten some of the stronger gangs in town. So, thank you very much for your help, Ursus."

"Of course, I'm still pissed off, so what I did is this." Jazz lifted up his glove. "We pickpocketed this off of a hunter. It seems like a really strong weapon, so I'm gonna start using it on you, okay?"

Ursus looked down and said nothing while Jazz laughed. If that was what was coming, so be it.

Overtaking Jazz's laughter, however, was the immediate sound of an explosion on the other side of the warehouse. Everyone, even Jazz who stopped his laughter, looked at the epicenter of the cloud of dust and late-afternoon sunlight to find the outline of five newcomers.

"Get in a line!" Jazz yelled. Immediately, the gang grouped up, rather than lined up, towards the broken wall. Soon, the dust subsided, and the figures became actual people.

"Hello!" Sagitari cheered out loud as she waved to the gang, "We're here for our friend! And if you won't let us take him back…"

She got into her battle stance as Orphiucha, Liu, and the guy who dislike Liu did the same.

"We'll take him back by force!"

* * *

"Guys," Ursus said from across the room, "Why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Orphiucha said, holding her batons out towards the gang members. "We're here to save you!"

"You're our teammate," Liu chimed. "No, you're more than that. You're our friend, and friends help one another in need!" Liu was surprised to find a large scar on Ursus' nose. It made him regret getting caught and used as a hostage, but he couldn't focus on that.

Jazz, rather than scared, laughed out loud. "Oh, all this friendship talk. It's so generic, isn't it? I'm not one of those villains who would say that friends are dead weight, though, so it all stops here. Yes, I agree, I like friends! If I didn't have friends, I wouldn't have these people by my side! And we're going to-"

"Athos," Sagitari said while Jazz made his long speech from a distance, "Use your semblance."

He saluted her. "Of course! Just keep your eyes on me, and…."

The next thing Liu saw was the sight of Ursus standing beside the group, his arm gripped by Athos.

"Wha- what? What just happened?!" Jazz asked, shocked at the sudden reappearance of Ursus on the other side. Ursus too was confused, as was Liu himself.

"How did you do that?" Liu asked.

Sagitari chuckled. "Such an interesting semblance. It's why I brought him after all."

"Now," she continued, "let's scram!"

Taking her queue, the five others turned around. Their new plan was to run where they left and escape back into the streets.

They would have done that, too, if not for the newcomers.

"Hey!" the leader of a group of ten people wearing white masks and white vests yelled as they came into the entrance. "What are you doing here?"

From behind, Liu could hear Jazz cursing. "Who was it that said this warehouse was fine to use?!"

Orphiucha groaned. "The White Fang."

The White Fang. The faunus extremists who were known for their hatred against humanity. While they were originally a group advocating peaceful protests in support of faunus rights, they had become more and more violent with the retirement of their original leader. Meeting them was unwanted, especially considering the fact many of them could fight rather well. The majority of their numbers had even unlocked aura.

Sagitari, without hesitation, yelled out loud. "Get in a circle! Liu, Ursus, and Orphiucha, look towards the gang. Athos and I will look towards the White Fang. Freddie, run when the fighting starts."

Liu was shaking in his boots as he held his sword towards the inside of the warehouse, where the gang was at. "So, we're gonna fight for real, huh? All five of us against more than twenty people?"

Ursus nodded as he pushed a button on his scroll. In a mere three seconds, his locker landed beside him and opened, revealing his spear. Despite his wounds, Ursus picked it up with little difficulty. The sight of him wearing his pajamas while holding his weapon also looked a little strange. "Don't worry. I'll help you."

Orphiucha grinned with excitement. "It's what friends do, right?"

The White Fang group, once composed, started running towards Liu's small group in the center. The gang, seeing their movements, did the same, signaling for Sagitari to give the command.

"Charge!"

* * *

(A/N: How will Team SOUL face this new threat? Will Liu finally be able to fight? Will Ursus get out safely? Tune in next time on RWBY: Revenant! (Hehe, I always wanted to do that.) Anyways, thanks a bunch for reading thus far! If you enjoy this story, why don't you give it a follow? Coming out VERY soon will be the fantastic conclusion to this story arc, so stay in tune for that! Anyways, have a good night and God bless!)


	21. Chapter 21: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 21: The Three-Way Battle

Liu, Orphiucha, and Ursus dashed towards the gang. Liu assumed Sagitari and Athos were doing the same from behind. Once the groups met, however, every line became blurred. The gang circled around to where the faunus were, and the White Fang did the same. That didn't protect Liu's group any more, however. The twenty or so gang members fought with ferocity against the White Fang just as they did with Team SOUL. The White Fang cared only for their people as well, using their weapons against both Team SOUL and Jazz's gang.

Liu held his sword out as a couple of Jazz's members ran forward and started trying to throw punches at him. Just like back when he was assaulted, however, Liu found himself dodging their attacks with ease. Against the might and power of Sagitari, Ursus, or Orphiucha, they moved in slow motion. Liu only made slight movements as he saw his friends do when they sparred. According to Sagitari, it took less energy, so Liu followed the same sorts of movements. He couldn't attack, which he still felt when his body refused to push his sword forward, but he had no problem moving out of the way until others took care of them.

And, like a clock, his plan was successful. A White Fang member ran towards the couple and started fighting them, forcing them to focus their attention on the new attacker instead of Liu. This gave him ample time to run away, looking for Freddie and making sure he had successfully escaped. He saw Sagitari handling three White Fang members on her own, each one very hesitant to come forward. He saw Orphiucha, who froze the ground with her batons and made the gang and White Fang members around her slip up. He saw Ursus swing his giant spear in such a way that anyone who moved towards him were easily swatted away. Finally, he saw Athos, who jabbed his rapier and moved his feet quickly, as if he was in the middle of a waltz.

Still no sign of Freddie. Liu took this to mean he had managed to get out of the area. With that problem taken care of, Liu dashed forward to a group of Jazz's members and White Fang who were fighting amongst themselves. Seeing as one person was no problem for him, he moved with the intention of facing a White Fang faunus. As expected, he caught one's attention, who ran closer with his close-ranged weapon in hand. Liu grinned and held his sword up. With such slow opponents, this gave him the environment he needed to practice attacking. He held his sword out casually, expecting the man to pose no threat.

How wrong his belief was.

Liu struggled as the White Fang member slammed his rectangular-shaped blade down. Had Liu not trained with the team as he did every morning, he would have easily lost his grip of the sword. Seeing his attack unsuccessful, the White Fang member pulled his weapon back and started an onslaught of speedy slashes. Thanks to his training again, Liu could see, block, and dodge almost every attack, but it was still very difficult for him. In no way did the last two attackers have this sort of skill. Thankfully, the look on the faunus' face seemed to indicate he was at his limit in terms of speed, but that did nothing to calm Liu's nerves.

Finally, the faunus gritted his teeth in anger, and pulled his sword backwards, positioning it for a stab. Liu, too panicked to think of his next movement, stood there with his sword up as the faunus came forward at an insane speed.

_I'm going to die,_ Liu's brain told himself. He watched the sword come closer and closer for him. Yet, in this moment, his body took control once more, using the danger as a means for movement rather than inhibition. In an instant, Liu found his legs jump, and very quickly the world became upside-down. He saw Ursus, the one fighting behind him, switch his spear down on another White Fang member, only he was standing on the ceiling. Just as fast as he saw Ursus, he saw the world slowly return to order as his feet touched the ground yet again. It took him a while to realize what had happened, which perhaps was the same for the White Fang member, but inevitably he came to the realization.

"I did a flip! During a fight!" Liu laughed with his hands in the air.

His excitement promptly came to an end, however, when the White Fang member shook his head and started attacking again. Liu, unable to attack, was forced to continue blocking and dodging.

_I hope the others are faring better, _Liu managed to think to himself as he barely blocked a heavy blow.

* * *

Sagitari held her fists up and watched as the gang's giant, somehow taller and thicker than Ursus, stepped forward between two small gang members. Those two then ran towards the White Fang, letting the massive beast handle Sagitari. The giant chuckled deeply as he stood over the girl and put his fists up.

Sagitari laughed to herself as well. The challenge excited her.

The monster of a human came forward and pushed his fist down on her. Sagitari deftly moved out of the way with a jump. The missed attack instead broke through the concrete floor. Once Sagitari landed, she activated her semblance, buffing up the muscles in her arms, and sprinted forward towards the opening left by the previous strike. Before the man managed to get up, the girl successful slammed her own powered-up fist into the gigantic gang member's cheek. Sagitari felt satisfied at the attack, and expected the man to fall down easily.

It only shocked her, then, when the monstrous being stood back up, spit out one of his teeth, and smiled.

* * *

Orphiucha raised her batons against the presumed White Fang leader, a woman wearing the same white mask as the others. However, her composure and location seemed to indicate she led this faction. In Orphiucha's mind, if the leader was taken down, it would demoralize the others. Thus, it was the best option their small group had.

As a leader should be, though, she was more powerful than the others, and easily held her morning star up, making Orphiucha's attack ineffective. With her single arm, the leader pushed the faunus back and made her slide a few meters away.

The leader waved her guards away, letting them join in the rumble. "So," she said, "You want to face me? I'll warn you, child, you're dealing with a trained ex-hunter. Just because you're a faunus, I'll let you run away and leave these humans behind."

Orphiucha simply chuckled and hit her batons again, changing their colors to red and blue. "Sorry, but these humans are my friends, unfortunately.

The leader frowned and raised her morning star forward. "So be it."

* * *

Ursus slammed the last gang member that attacked him into the wall. Releasing his chains off his victim, he pulled his blade back in place and put the hilt of his spear on the ground. As well as he was doing, he was barely holding on after being stuck in the warehouse for nearly a day.

As unwanted as the flu, a familiar voice rang out in anger. "No way am I letting you escape!" Ursus looked behind him to find an upset Jazz come forward with a burning katana in his right hand, and the same metal glove he had before in his left.

"Come on," Ursus groaned as he pulled his spear back up.

"You think I'll let you get away after what you did to me?"

"That was so long ago," Ursus replied.

With no response, Jazz ran forward and slashed his flaming blade forward. Ursus would be able to push it aside with no difficulty, but his wounds proved worse than he thought. Instead, he could only jump backwards, just out of the way of the katana.

Jazz was far from stopping however. While Ursus was jumping away, Jazz jumped forward and slammed his metal glove into Ursus' stomach. The punch was far weaker than anything Ursus had seen at the academy, but the lack of his aura and the added power from the glove proved far too much for him, and Ursus was send staggering backwards, coughing blood.

Jazz grinned in pleasure. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?"

Ursus looked up and grumbled, "This is bad."

* * *

All around Liu, groups of people were striking one another. Pandemonium filled the entire warehouse as screams and the sound of skin hitting one another reverberated throughout the place. However, Liu had one place to focus: the White Fang member who continued to attack him. Unfortunately, the faunus was winning, as he continued to push Liu further and further backwards. No clear hits got to Liu, luckily, but they slowly got closer and closer to him the more they moved.

_This really isn't good_. Liu tried to attack, but unlike before, danger didn't release the handicap his brain put on his willingness to attack. All he could do was move left and right, side to side in order to dodge the sword. He could block the weapon with his own, only if he had no intention of attacking in his movements. He was, in essence, delaying the battle until someone came to help him, the enemy lost interest, or something worse happened.

And that worse thing was going to happen sooner than Liu thought.

After a few minutes of being pushed back in this exchange, Liu felt the back of his shoe hit something hard and metal. The extra space came to an end, and suddenly everything about the battle changed. Again, the man pulled his sword back, coming forward for a stab, though this time Liu was far too scared to manage a flip. Instead, he let his legs fall down, giving his head barely any space to dodge from below. Liu felt some of his hair get caught in the strike, indicating that while he had survived, it was very close.

"What the…?" the White Fang member questioned. Liu looked up to find the man trying to pull his sword out of the metal he impaled.

"Iven!" a voice yelled from the bustling crowd, "Quit messing with that boy and get in the mech! It's right in front of you!"

The man nodded to the feminine voice. He then looked back at Liu and grinned. "This ain't over, kid. You're about to see something spectacular."

With that, the man ran off, around the corner of the giant metal crate's wall that laid behind Liu. With him out of the way, Liu breathed out in relief as he relaxed. Sure, he didn't fight back or provide any threat to the White Fang, but the fact that he managed to hold his own for so long allowed Liu to see himself objectively. He had gotten better at fighting. He had improved in his movements. Liu felt his arms and torso, and questioned when his body had become as defined as it was now. It gave Liu a new feeling: accomplishment. He felt accomplished in his work, and, even now, felt inspired to continue working towards the path of a hunter. That was the only way he could help people.

As Liu continued to revel in his pride, the side of the crate started shaking, causing Liu to jump onto his feet. He quickly turned around towards the metal box that continued to rumble, so much so that the White Fang sword stuck in it broke free.

_You're about to see something spectacular. _ The man's voice ran in his head again, causing Liu to hold his sword up against the tremoring container. With a loud sound, the top of the crate cracked in half, with the metal near the middle aiming upwards like a volcano. Rather than lava, though, a giant robot came jumping out of the top, fulfilling the prophecy of the White Fang member. Only a second afterwards, the same metallic being landed directly in front of Liu, around fifteen feet tall. A light gray sheen was painted over its outside, save for a few areas like the cockpit. Connected to its arms were large devices that Liu suspected were guns. He also guessed there were even more weapons attached to its back. Finally, Liu looked up into the tinted cockpit, where the same man he fought with grinned in excitement.

"What'd I say, kid?" a voice came from the robot. Liu made no response in awe of the incredible device. He could tell it was an Atlas-made product, which surprised him even more to find the White Fang taking control of it.

The guy continued. "What? Are you scared?" he taunted.

However, Liu was far from it. The excitement he felt from the previous exchanges, and the necessity to keep the mech from attacking his friends, made him feel determination. He wasn't the same kid he was before Beacon.

No, he was now Liu, the hunter.

With his sword stretched forward, Liu smiled. "Sorry. I gotta admit, it is spectacular. Unfortunately, I'll be the one to take it down."

* * *

Sagitari released another flurry of punches at the giant. Head, liver, stomach, every body part she could hit, she hit. She released as much of her semblance as she could, making her stand almost half a foot taller than before. She could feel her new muscles bulging with vicious strength.

And yet, the giant always came back from his wounds with a big smile and a wide punch.

Sagitari, again, easily dodged the attack and came back around with her own attack, but the monster still stood. However, she could suspect it wouldn't be like that for long. Her semblance, even if it did give her incredible strength, took a lot of endurance to keep up. Even more if it meant she had to manipulate other people's body. Thus, her speed slowly but surely drained.

Sagitari jumped back from yet another swing and stood, trying to find a weak point. As lacking as she knew she was in intelligence, strategy in battles came to her with ease. Honestly, during the first fight their team had with the tiger grimm, she knew that the beast's eyes and mouth were weaker. She simply wanted to test her own strength against the grimm's outer skin.

Unexpectedly, Athos came from behind, noticing Sagitari's weakened stance. "Sagitari! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

A random individual ran up to Athos. With his skill, he released an onslaught of rapier slashes, creating a plethora of non-mortal wounds on the attacker. Just as soon as they arrived, the fighter then left with a loss in the exchange. "I'm fine," Athos smiled heroically, "Let me help you with this demon!"

Sagitari shook her head and grinned. "No, I want to fight him. This kind of guy is exciting."

"But what if you lose?"

Sagitari sighed. "Alright, if you see me get knocked out, then cut in and pull me away. Just leave him alone so I can fight him again when I wake up."

Athos nodded slowly in confusion. "Then I shall go, my goddess!"

With him leaving, Sagitari turned back to the giant who impatiently waited. "Sorry," she said, "You're probably having fun too, aren't you? Well, don't worry. Now we can start back up again."

With her response, the big man smiled again and came forward. Sagitari dashed forward and flared her semblance again. With her strong muscles, Sagitari came under the giant and jumped. With a strength she had yet to use before coming to Beacon, Sagitari released an immense uppercut, connecting thoroughly with the giant's chin. Upon seeing the guy's eyes become glassy, she smiled in satisfaction and released her semblance as fast as she could. Once she landed on the ground, the monster of a person staggered back a few paces and became wobbly. Sagitari released her stance, watching the beast's eyes start to close. She believed she had won.

That is, until his eyes came bursting wide open and, with no indication, threw another punch at Sagitari. This time, the punch hit.

Sagitari's aura completely drained with that attack as she went flying back a few meters. She managed to land on her feet, but once she placed her feet down, she could feel some of her ribs crack. Sagitari gripped her torso in pain and looked up to the unstable, but happy, opponent.

Even in her pain, though, the girl wanted to come back at him. Not only for the sake of her comrades, but for the sake of her excitement. She wanted to fight him, and seeing the man unstable now revealed that his immunity was coming to an end.

Sagitari, despite the sharp pain, got back into her fighting stance. "That was a good punch, but I'll do you one better."

* * *

"Are you finished with your attacks?" the White Fang leader asked as she stood, unscathed from Orphiucha's assaults.

The taunt got to her and Orphiucha came back again with even more speed, aided by changing her baton colors to yellow, a lightning element. For a fourth time, she launched an aggressive ensemble of slashes and stabs. Each baton moved at their own accord. Yet, even in those movements, the woman kept out of harm's way. She either dodged the batons or blocked with her own morning star, a weapon previously assumed to be heavy.

Seeing her close-ranged attacks as inefficient, Orphiucha jumped back and hit her batons together, changing them from yellow to blue. In mid-air, she slashed a large "X" in the air, releasing a large wave that barreled towards the leader at high speed. Again, the attack proved fruitless as the woman hit the wave out of the way. The blue energy attack instead impacted with the ceiling, where it exploded into an amalgamation of ice.

The White Fang leader smiled. "You know, we could use someone like you in our ranks."

Orphiucha grunted as she landed. "Aren't I too young for that kind of terrorism?"

"Oh, but we have kids far younger than you aiding us."

Orphiucha growled, and any playfulness she had before left. "Using children to fight for you? That's awful!"

"Darling, it's about the end goal."

"That… that's not right," Orphiucha said as she pointed her baton at the White Fang squad leader. "I don't like humans as much as the White Fang, but if I do what you do, I would be no better than them!"

"Better?" the leader laughed, "Tell me what's better: living under regimes led by humans, or actively fighting against it?"

Orphiucha laughed. "Playing that game? Alright then, tell me what's better: letting people die or saving them?"

The leader brought her morning star forward. "I suppose there's no more room for discussion, is there? Maybe if I start beating you, I can convince you."

* * *

Ursus held back another attack from Jazz.

"It's all your fault!" Jazz yelled as he slammed his metal glove into Ursus' spear. "If it wasn't for you, none of this would have happened!"

"This wouldn't have happened?" Ursus muttered as he tried his best to hold back the attack. "This is my fault? Who was it that kidnapped me?"

"Shut up!" Jazz threw another punch, moving past the spear and slamming yet again into Ursus' chest. The punch made him stagger once more, though Ursus managed to hold himself up. At least, enough to prepare for the next set of attacks from Jazz. The crazed gangster continued to wail against Ursus' spear, and occasionally even getting past it. Especially without aura, this was becoming a dangerous fight. Ursus struggled to jump back as another wide punch from Jazz's gauntlet came by.

"Come on, why are you running?" Jazz yelled amid the sounds of combat as he ran forward. Ursus tried again to block, but the glove came past the spear, and slammed directly in Ursus' chin. This time, Ursus fell on his back, hitting the hard ground with a thud. He slowly lifted his head to see Jazz almost dancing in enjoyment.

"What a maniac…" Ursus muttered to himself. It was that kind of mania, however, that brought Ursus to the ground.

"What, are you taking a nap?" Jazz gloated

"No," Ursus groaned as he got back on his knees. "I have friends now, so I can't give up."

"Again with the friend talk? I won't be so predictable as to argue with you. Instead, I'll just beat you!" Jazz yelled as he came forward again, before Ursus fully got to his knees.

Very hastily, Ursus grabbed the end of his spear, where the chained blade was held. Using the mechanism of the device, he brought the chain out of the weapon. With the entire chain out and free, he picked up the closest end to the hilt and held it up against the burning katana that Jazz used against the downed Ursus.

"That'll do nothing!" Jazz screamed as he slashed downwards on Ursus' chain. As expected, the chain broke against the heat and might of the sword.

Jazz stopped his sword just above Ursus, who let go of his chain. "Looks like I win!"

Jazz brought his blade up a second time. Ursus assumed he was assured his victory would arrive. Such a condition gave him the chance he needed. Before Jazz could slash, Ursus lifted up his broken spear's body and slammed it against Jazz's chest with more speed than he could ever muster before.

Jazz's eyes changed from excitement to pain as he stepped backwards in shock. "How?" he questioned, holding his torso with his gauntlet hand.

Ursus stood back up and raised his spear-body, which now appeared more as a metal staff. "You just cut off the vast majority of the weight in my weapon. Sure, I'll need to get this fixed, but you just made me much faster."

Jazz grunted in rage and came forward again. Though Ursus was in pain, he felt more focused than before. He blocked the katana once more, but this time came back with a trio of smacks on Jazz's ribcage again. The gangster didn't let that stop him, despite the wounds, and instead tried to punch with his powered-up stolen gauntlet. Ursus barely dodged the punch and came back with a thrust from his weapon, hitting Jazz directly in the nose.

Again, he grunted like an animal. "Stop it already!"

Ursus gritted his teeth. "Stop it? After tricking me when we were younger? After torturing me? After threatening my friend? No, I should do far more."

Finally, Jazz was on the defense with eyes of panic and fear. "W-wait!"

Ursus slammed his staff directly into Jazz's head. Not so much as to kill, but just enough to knock the guy out. The attack proved successful, and Jazz fell onto the ground cold.

"I should do far more… but that's not what a hunter does. Goodbye, Jazz. I hope I never have to see you again."

Ursus turned around to a stunned gang, which seemed to be losing the fight with both Team SOUL and the White Fang. He popped his neck and rested his metal spear-staff on his shoulder. "I guess I should join the fight once more. I have some energy left, at least."

* * *

Liu jumped away from another stomp by the mech.

"Get back here!" the voice said from the mech.

"Why would I do that?!" Liu yelled back as he tried to get away. Still, the speed of the giant robotic being managed to circle around to trap Liu from escape again.

"Didn't you say you need to join the fight over there?" Liu asked as he pointed at the fight a good distance away, hoping to get out of this exchange.

"Wasn't it you who said you were going to fight me? Well, here I am!" Again, the mech proceeded to punch downwards at Liu, who found himself surprised at his body's enhanced speed and reflexes each time he dodged away. Unfortunately, his growth was still far from enough to actually do damage to the mech.

The mech's voice growled. "Alright, then. Why don't we test some of the weapons on this baby? If I push this button, then…" On cue, the arms raised and the guns on the arms started shining.

"Oh, crap!" With a loud banging sound, two large blasts of dust energy came shooting out. Liu barely had time to duck before the bullets flew directly over him, into the wall on the other side of the warehouse.

"So, you still want to tangle?" the mech asked again.

Liu stood back up slowly with his eyes closed. In this fight, he was outmatched in every possible way. The mech was stronger, had more weapons, and was far more durable. Liu, on the other hand, could just barely dodge out of harm's way. He guessed that if the man tried to aim next time, he would be toast. Indeed, the best option would be to escape.

But, Liu had to fight back. He needed to for the sake of his friends. In a moment like this, he thought back to what Sagitari said: _We're a team. Remember that, and I'm sure your strength will come through. _

With a calmed mind, Liu opened his eyes and nodded. "Sorry, but it's my job to finish you off."

"Okay, wise guy, I didn't want to kill anyone, but it seems you'll be this mech's first victim." At the end of that sentence, the arms rose once again, and the weapons started glowing.

This gave Liu about five seconds to start moving. If the mech was to use its weapons, the best place to be would be at close-range. The mech stood around fifteen feet, so it was high enough for Liu to get under. He dashed as fast as he could towards the barrel of the gun aimed at him, garnering a gasp of surprise from the mech's stereo-system.

_Four._

The sound of the guns intensified. Liu felt the hairs on his back start to rise as he got closer.

_Three. _

Liu pushed his legs far more than he had ever done in his entire life. He started to feel the heat of the gun on his cheeks.

_Two._

Liu was facing the gun barrels directly. One shot and it would take his head clean off. The sound climaxed to a cacophony of electricity and metallic parts moving. Liu very nearly panicked, but this distance just proved his strategy was correct.

_One._

Liu slid on the ground, directly under the mech just before the gun shot. The sound was devastating to his ears, but he couldn't stop yet. Liu grabbed his sword and closed his eyes.

"Think about your team," he whispered to himself. He thought of what the mech could do to his friends. He thought of Ursus' already weak status hindering him even more. He thought of Orphiucha and Sagitari. It made him angry a bit, but he even thought about Athos.

And finally, the wall that had always kept him from hurting his opponents shattered. Liu stabbed his sword upwards, into the under-belly of the mech.

Unsurprisingly, the metal of the mech protected it from Liu's sword.

"Eh?" Liu questioned.

"What are you doing?" the man in the mech asked, "Get out from under there!" Before Liu could react, one of the oversized arms grabbed his own arm and threw him upwards. The boy screamed out loud as he flew in the air. Liu saw the whole world spin around as he struggled to find his bearings in the air. After a few seconds he finally found them, which occurred when he luckily landed on his legs with no damage, which he had to believe was due to his training mixed with his aura.

Even luckier, he landed on top of the mech.

The man had yet to react. This was Liu's chance. He took his sword and stabbed downwards, into the top of the cockpit. He could see the man's scared reactions through the tinted glass, but the sword had yet to break through. He tried multiple times before he saw the arms move towards him once more, but the glass still refused to budge, only cracking against the weight of his stabs.

_If only I had more force, _Liu thought to himself. But there was no way he could. It simply wasn't-

Then it hit him. There was one way. One, risky way. Liu closed his eyes and felt the electrical semblance situating in his core.

_Alright, semblance. This time, don't make me have a seizure._ Liu released the electricity from his core with the intention of sending it to his muscles. From there, he would strength his muscles to give himself enough strength to break the glass. Perhaps if he could control it fast enough, it wouldn't hurt him.

_What?! _However, the electrical semblance became increasingly, and uncontrollably, interested in the area below Liu's feet. Liu tried his best to stop the electrical flow, but it moved on its own accord towards its attraction: the mech. It didn't completely leave Liu, keeping him from fainting like during his spar with Nora, but it did keep expanding more and more into the mech. Liu could feel it, reaching each corner of the mech's metallic arms and legs. Even then, the mech continued to move, with its arms focusing in on Liu's position. He kept trying to pull it out and back into his body, but it refused to budge. Aggravated, Liu used an incredible amount of force inside of him, trying to pull the electricity back towards him as fast as he could.

Coincidentally, the mech stopped moving.

"What?!" the man yelled from within the mech, "Why isn't it moving? The controls just stopped by themselves!"

Liu tilted his head in confusion. Just as a test, he pulled on the electricity in the mech's right arm.

The mech's right arm raised upwards.

Liu pushed on his electricity in the right arm.

The mech's right arm lowered.

"What's happening?! This damn thing's busted!"

Finally, it hit Liu. His semblance could do more than he thought. For the fourth time, Liu started pushing and pulling on the mech's legs. As expected, it started walking. Liu started grinning as the White Fang member inside the robot kept yelling for help, which confused the vast majority of the fighters inside the warehouse.

Now Liu could acknowledge it: he had use. He manipulated the mech once again, turning it towards the heart of the fighting.

"Time to bring this fighting to an end."

* * *

"Woo! Look, Sagitari! I'm controlling this mech!" Liu yelled to the tired Sagitari. She smiled and waved back. The giant, yelling robot proceeded to kick and punch in the areas of fighting, though it only threatened rather than actually harmed others. Luckily, the bluff worked, and some of the groups started to leave.

"Well, look there. My teammate really did something, huh?"

The equally-tired giant scratched his head.

"Anyways," Sagitari turned back around, "We gotta finish this off, don't we?"

The giant nodded. With that, Sagitari yelled a battle-cry and sprinted forward with her tired legs. She was going to finish off this guy finally, and she predicted how to do it. As the man was winding up his own large punch, Sagitari activated her semblance and threw a quick jab at his chin. Yet again, he did not fall. Tired from activating her semblance, Sagitari wobbled aside, very nearly falling.

However, she couldn't give up yet. Not after what she had set up. She put her left foot down, regaining her stability, and raised her fist towards the incoming larger fist. This time, it was all or nothing. She was going to play all her cards. She put as much into her semblance as she could and came forward. Despite the massive size of the other fist, Sagitari was able to move herself around it, raising her arm directly over the massive blob of force. This gave her the chance she needed. She continued her movement, and slammed her fist into the giant guy's face, using both her own strength with the man's force to create a counter punch.

Finally, and without any struggle, the man fell flat on his back.

"I guess you didn't notice," Sagitari muttered to the nearly unconscious opponent, "But with the punch before last, I used my semblance to weaken your head. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to knock you out, especially after a counter."

Sagitari sat down on the floor. "That was a fun fight. Maybe we should do something like this again. That'll be fun. Maybe not fun for my teammates, but for me? I dunno…"

Sagitari continued to mindlessly ramble on in exhaustion as she rested on the ground. That alone made the other groups avoid her, which protected her well enough.

* * *

Orphiucha laid on the ground under the White Fang squad leader. She was horribly beaten.

"This is what happens to those who fight the White Fang," the leader said bitterly. With that, she turned away.

"That proves you don't have the faunus in interest," Orphiucha moaned as she got back up.

"Don't you dare judge us!" the leader turned back around in surprise at her tenacity.

Orphiucha smirked. "See, it's not a faunus thing. It's a White Fang thing. And that's why I'll never help an organization like you."

At this moment, Orphiucha had to consider if she should use it. Should she use her semblance? In this kind of battle, using the semblance would be necessary. But, she found she couldn't. Using the curse given to her by her father? This was a fight about faunus pride, and involving such a semblance would only lower her moral high ground.

Instead, Orphiucha clacked her two batons together in a special way, changing the color to a bright red due to flared-up dust energy. She very nearly let go from the heat, but struggled through for the sake of this battle. With no strength to move towards her opponent, she let the leader come up with her immense speed. Despite her weapon, the woman moved at an unbelievable speed. Still, Orphiucha could follow. Somewhat.

The woman swung her morning star again. It was so fast, Orphiucha found herself still getting hit despite her own speed. However, she could still block, and that was all that mattered. Every time she saw the morning star, Orphiucha hit it in one place. The morning star came from the left, and Orphiucha hit it in the same spot. The morning star came from above, and she hit it in the same spot again. The morning star came from below-

And Orphiucha found herself falling on the ground again. It was just too fast. She had to question just what kind of the training the White Fang squad leader had gone through. Enough of that, though, she had to finish her off. Orphiucha got right back on her feet and came forward. Again, she hit the same spot of the morning star. The exchanges continued again, until Orphiucha found herself laying on the ground yet again.

"Tell me," the leader spoke, "Why do you do so much for the sake of these humans?"

Orphiucha wiped the blood off of her chin. "It doesn't matter if they're humans or not. They're my friends, and for their sake, I'll fight you."

"You've just signed your death certificate for the sake of humans, girl. You won't get any more special treatment from me." Just as soon as Orphiucha stood back up, the very wrathful faunus squad leader came forward with a new level of speed. Orphiucha assumed that if the fight were to go any longer, she would not come out as the victor.

That made her all the more encouraged when she saw the morning star flop around a bit.

She just needed one more hit. Besides, her weapon's dust energy was just about out. She needed to finish this. Orphiucha came forward as well this time and raised her weapons against the moving morning star. In only a few strikes, the woman would get a successful attack on her. So, she let the woman bring her morning star against Orphiucha's own weapons, making sure to aim at the same point. Very quickly, she clacked her fire-y baton onto the same point one more time.

And, as predicted, the woman's weapon snapped in two.

Orphiucha knew the woman had quick reflexes and amazing speed. She would easily came back to attack, even without a weapon. But, in this moment of surprise, she was vulnerable. So, Orphiucha took this chance to attack the distracted White Fang leader, swinging her right baton over the woman's cheek. She then brought her left baton against the woman's rib cage. She continued a pattern of right baton, left baton, making sure to give no chance of repose. She couldn't let the woman have any chance of escape. She had to finish her off.

For the sake of her friends. Even if they were human.

Orphiucha finished off her barrage of slashes with one more large strike on the woman's right side. The baton colors shut off completely, but she believed that was enough. It had to be, after all. No one could stay conscious after being hit so many times with burning weapons. However, she held her breath as she saw the leader straighten back up with a frown of malice.

"You should have joined our ranks, faunus."

"No, thanks. I have my own team."

With that small exchange of words, the woman fell onto the floor in unconsciousness. Orphiucha breathed a great, big sigh of relief, though she had the strength to keep standing. She had to after all, as she looked around. The fighting had quickly diminished, especially after Liu joined in the fight with his strange robot, but there was still some fighting. Thus, she had to join back in. She had to protect her friends from the battle.

So, with renewed invigoration, Orphiucha dashed towards the nearest opponents.

* * *

Liu punched the ground with the mech one final time, scaring the last group of fighters on the ground. Just the sight of the goliath robot yelling obscenities made them run away. With that, the last amount of White Fang left through the back while the gang exited out the gate.

"Hey! Where's everyone going?!" the man in the mech voiced out.

Liu, forgetting he had someone trapped in the robot, proceeded to manipulate the arms to forcibly open the cockpit. If there was a way to open it, he had no idea how. He also found he couldn't fire the guns either. At the very least, the mechanical being had the strength to open itself.

"Get out. Your friends all left," Liu commanded to the scared looking faunus. With no pause, the man jumped out of the vehicle and dashed towards the hole in the wall. Liu couldn't help but smile to himself at what he had accomplished.

"Liu!? What are you doing?" Orphiucha asked from below.

Liu pulled on his electricity that seeped into the robot once more to wave at her. "Hello! Check out what I can do!"

Orphiucha grinned. "Well, seems you aren't as useless as you thought."

An exhausted Sagitari and Ursus came from behind, followed by a somewhat tired Athos. Liu lowered the robot and jumped off. The instant he stopped touching the metal, all of his electricity shot back into his body, making him shake a bit once he landed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Sagitari groaned as she held her ribs.

"I should ask the same thing! What happened?"

Ursus, Sagitari, and Orphiucha looked at one another. "There's no way we should be the ones hurting more than you," Orphiucha complained.

"Anyways," Ursus asked, "What's with the robot?"

Liu walked up to the mech and touched the side with his hand. Upon physical connection, Liu closed his eyes and let his semblance flood into the metal again.

"I found out more about my semblance," Liu stated as he made the metal being wave its hand again.

"No way!" Sagitari cried in excitement. She ran up to the mech and proceeded to jump into the cockpit.

"Careful!" Athos warned. "The Xiu-spawn could hurt you in a moment's notice."

"Uh, Liu? The robot isn't turned on," Sagitari spoke from the seat.

Liu let go. Immediately, his semblance went back into his body and the robot stopped moving. "What? But it was moving."

Sagitari jumped back out and scratched her head. "Hmm… Maybe your semblance didn't turn it on in the first place. Maybe if its metallic and it has joints, then…"

Like a lightbulb, Sagitari's eyes shot back at Liu. "I. Have. The. BEST idea for your auxiliary weapon."

"What is it, then?"

Sagitari, despite her wounds, smiled back. "I can't say! It has to be a surprise. I will say this, though: This time, I promise it will be a perfect fit."

Liu couldn't help but smile at his friend. "Then I'll be fine waiting."

"I-is it fine now?" a familiar voice came from the hole in the wall. Freddie walked back into the room, a look of caution on his face.

Ursus nodded with a smile. "You're okay now."

As Freddie walked towards the group, however, another familiar voice yelled from behind a metal crate. "You! This is all your fault!"

Out from the corner came Jazz. He looked badly injured and tired, but the eyes of rage and glass in his hand made everyone reflexively step back. "If you didn't tell them, none of this would have happened!"

Without a moment's notice, Jazz came barreling towards Freddie with murderous intent. The chubby kid held up his hands in fear, but couldn't move his shivering legs. Everyone could only watch in horror as Jazz moved closer towards his prey.

Everyone but Ursus.

Ursus jumped into action, dashing faster than anyone in the group yet. It was a far distance, but he was going to make it. Just as Jazz was bringing his sharp point down, Ursus moved between the two, brought his hand forward, and let the glass stab through his palm, saving Freddie from a horrible outcome. He winced in pain, but didn't stop yet. With Jazz's weapon caught, Ursus then brought his open hand forward, striking him over the cheek with a massive slap. Jazz's already tired body fell backwards, finally falling into a deep sleep from the impact.

"A-are you okay?" Freddie asked as Ursus painfully pulled the glass out of his hand.

Ursus turned around with a look of displeasure. "Freddie, I believe actions speak better than words. So, please, stop with the investigation. Just because I don't talk much doesn't mean I'm secretly plotting against everyone."

Ursus turned around, walking towards the exit. Everyone else started following, except for Freddie, who stood there stunned.

"Find true justice. Not the justice you think is true"

* * *

"That was risky, Ursus!" Orphiucha finished the last of his bandages as they all sat on the roof of one of the abandoned buildings in town.

"S-sorry, I couldn't help it," he muttered, "I didn't have the energy to think of anything else."

"I can relate," Sagitari said as she laid on the ground, brown hair scattered around her head. She had layers upon layers of bandages wrapped around her.

After they left, Freddie apologized to the group as much as he could and left them a box of first aid. They could tell they'd need much more than that, but for now it was fine. So to avoid suspicion, they found a rooftop and started healing there.

"Sheesh, how did you get away with so little wounds?" Orphiucha asked to Liu.

Liu finished bandaging up Sagitari's leg. "Well to be fair, I didn't really fight. I just dodged a lot, until I found out I could use the mech."

Athos sighed. He had a few wounds on his arms, but still stood relatively unharmed. He was just exhausted. "I should have expected you'd avoid conflict as much as you could."

He then stood up and bowed to Sagitari and Orphiucha. "I'm leaving. So, I will say adieu, my goddesses."

"Wait," Sagitari leaned up and weakly said, "I think Liu deserves an answer. Why are you so bitter towards him?"

Athos stopped, but shook his head. "It is not important."

Liu gritted his teeth. He knew Athos wasn't that bad of a person, so why did he have such an issue with Liu? He needed to know. "Athos, tell me already. Today, I saw that we could fight together. Just… let me know what I did wrong."

Athos froze for a bit, then sighed. "Sorry, it is not you. My father… was not a good man. He worked for very questionable people, and helped in very gray areas of work. He was not a loving person to his family, either. But, he brought money to the table, feeding me, my mother, and my siblings.

Athos looked at Liu, a saddened expression in his eye. It had bitterness, definitely, but it seemed more hardened than anything. "It was Kang Xiu, your father, who captured him and locked him up. Because of that, the money flow stopped and my family had to suffer."

He clinched his fists. "I know what your father did was the right thing to do. I know that what my dad did was against the law and what he did was wrong. Even then, I can't help but feel anger towards you and your father for what the rest of my family had to go through."

Very speedily, Athos put back on his normal façade and tipped his Musketeer hat. "Anyways, I shall say goodbye."

"You know," Liu said across the roof, "I'm not my father."

Athos stopped at the top of the stairs. "I know."

And with that, he left the group. The entire group was left speechless.

That is until Orphiucha laughed, breaking the tension in the air. "What a drama queen!"

"Well, he did go through quite a bit," Ursus whispered.

"So? There are plenty other people who have gone through that and haven't been bitter."

Sagitari lifted her head, a serious look on her face not unlike when she constrained Freddie. "Oh, and I'm sure you're one of them?"

Orphiucha's eyes widened. She kept her head down and silently finished up Ursus' arm.

"Anyways," Liu interrupted, trying to break the mood that suddenly occurred, "I'm glad you're alright, Ursus."

Ursus nodded. "Me too. I'm very thankful for what you all did. I was about to give up, but your arrival saved me from that."

"It's what friends do!" Sagitari said.

Ursus nodded. "Speaking of which," he looked to Liu, "Are you still going to stay with our team?"

Liu nodded. Even if he didn't fight well in the warehouse, he would have stayed. He was finished being a pity party. He felt refreshed and encouraged to work even harder. But more than that, he liked this group despite their quarks. They were a good team, and Liu knew he was meant to be with them. Orphiucha, Sagitari, and Ursus. They all believed in him, and he believed in them. What more could he ask for?

With minor wounds, he got up with little difficulty and raised his hand in the air. "I promise I'll never try to leave our team again! Ready?"

The three others nodded. For the first time, they all cheered together perfectly.

"Team SOUL!"

* * *

(Author's Note: Annnnd, there we go. Finally finished the two longest chapters this series has thus far. I'm glad I can finally relax... until the next chapter. Ha... So anyways, sorry there hasn't been a lot of after chapters recently. Considering that this was at the climax of an arc in the before chapter, I felt it would be good just to focus on that. The next set of chapter will definitely have an after chapter! Oh, and if you like the series so far, give it a follow or a review! Thanks for reading and God bless!)


	22. Chapter 22: Before

RWBY: Revenant

Chapter 22: Before - The Day of the Dance

"Come on out, Ursus! We gotta see how the tux looks on you!" Sagitari said as the three others waited outside.

"G-give me a moment. I'm still healing from my wounds, after all," he replied from the bathroom.

It had been a solid three weeks since the fight had occurred. All of them, excluding Liu, required a full week of hospitalization, the prospect of which frightened Sagitari. With enough prodding, however, she consented and soldiered through seven days of no exercise or training. Despite the wounds, that did not give them an excuse for skipping class. In fact, that only made the situation worse. They would have been expelled, if it wasn't for Ozpin jumping in for their sake. Liu saw the man as an enigma, but at least he knew the guy was on their side.

Ursus finally came out from the bathroom, wearing the tux he got from the formal dress store they all went to. Despite his size, the clothing fit him perfectly and the color of the tie really went well with his hair.

"Wow!" Sagitari said with her thumbs up. She was wearing a red dress with a rather short skirt that made Liu blush.

"That's not too shabby," Orphiucha agreed. She had on the black dress Liu saw before. This time, however, she had a white scarf alongside it, matching her hair.

Liu himself was wearing traditional Mistral wear, not too different from what he had seen Ren wear, only red and meant for formal occasions. "The tux looks nice, man," he nodded. He still felt somewhat regretful that he wasn't going with Sagitari, but any sort of bitterness or anger had finally subsided.

Ursus nodded back. "T-thanks, guys," he said meekly.

"I know! Let's take a picture!" Sagitari suggested. Without anyone's consent, she pulled everyone together and raised her scroll in the air, preparing for a selfie. While she had a big smile, everyone else awkwardly tried to show their teeth. They felt thankful, then, when the scroll ran out of battery.

"Aw, man! I just charged it this morning," she complained.

"It's fine," Orphiucha waved her hand, "Come on, let's go to the dance already."

Sagitari pouted. "Okay."

* * *

The night was going just about how Liu expected it to go. Him standing by the punch bowl, tapping his foot to the music while sipping on his drink as Sagitari and Ursus danced. He assumed Orphiucha was dancing with Sun Wukong as well. He must be the only one without a dance, then.

Liu sighed. So be it. It was his own fault for not asking anyone else, anyways.

Uncomfortable standing in one area, Liu proceeded to throw his plastic cup away and move around. One thing that caught his eye was the balcony of the dance room. He decided he could use fresh air, so he moved towards the stairs and climbed up the spiral staircase. Once up, he looked out from his elevated position and saw Sagitari pulling Ursus along in her dance. The guy looked tired, but his big body refused to give up yet. It made Liu both root for him and slowly grow thankful that he wasn't dancing with the girl.

Eventually, he made his way around the second floor, towards the balcony where he opened the door. Upon exiting, the sound of the music subsided to a muffled thumping while the sounds of the night took precedence. There were a few other people standing in the rather large balcony, but it was far less crowded than inside. Mostly, the people consisted of romantic pairs, either talking, hugging, or awkwardly kissing.

Well, one person sat alone on a bench in the corner. A familiar person: Orphiucha.

"Orphiucha?" Liu asked as he came towards her. The familiar girl shot her snake eyes up in surprise, though seeing Liu reverted her expression to the same as usual.

"Oh, it's just you," she stated bluntly.

Liu sat down beside her. "It's a surprise you're out here!"

"Well, I just wanted some fresh air."

"Same here. That, and the fact that there isn't much to do in there."

"Yeah? Well if you asked Sagitari in time, you'd be having a bit more fun."

"I dunno… seeing her dancing in there kinda made me glad I'm not with her," Liu joked. "Anyways, how's the dance going with Sun?"

Orphiucha turned her eyes away. "It's going… well."

"Oh, really? Where is he now?"

Orphiucha smirked. "He's just getting some…" With that, she froze and quickly gave up the act. "Oh, it's just you anyways. To tell you the truth, I'm not here with him," she said sadly.

Liu tilted his head. "You didn't ask either?"

Orphiucha shook her head. "No, he already asked someone before I tried to ask him. I guess I can't really judge you now, considering I was late myself."

Liu couldn't help but feel bad for his teammate, but he had no idea on how comfort her. The twinkle in his eye indicated such a movement, which made Orphiucha recoil and pull her emotional shell back up.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! I don't need your pity."

Liu shook his head. "I-it's not pity! I just feel bad for you."

"That's the same thing!"

"W-well, what do you want me to do? Say 'It happens to the best of us?' Tell you there are better fish in the sea? Of course I feel bad for you, but I feel bad because you're my friend!"

Orphiucha blushed a bit, but sighed. "Sorry. I always do this. I always act so tense around you and the others when I should be a bit calmer. It's not right to you, so I'm sorry."

"An apology? From Orphiucha? Wow, today must be-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Orphiucha clamped her hand on his mouth. "Not. A. Single. Word."

Liu slowly nodded, at which the faunus girl removed her hand. The two then kept a silence between one another as they watched the stars and listened to the muffled music from inside. Both were rejects, sitting together as they wallowed in self-pity. That being said, the company of another reject wasn't the worst thing in the world. Indeed, the two were content knowing the other didn't get what they wanted either, accompanied by a lesser, selfish guilt. But, did Liu want to stay like this?

No, Liu wanted something better. He wanted to be better friends with Orphiucha. He wanted to stop feeling like a loser. He wanted to be in there, and he knew Orphiucha wanted to do the same. With a quick stretch, he stood back up and looked around as he held his hand out to a confused Orphiucha.

"Well, my lady, shall we dance?"

* * *

Ursus sat down, trying desperately to recover from the dance that he was sure originated from Hell. He could feel some of his sore ribs start to wiggle a bit. It stunned him how Sagitari also managed to not only dislocated one, but two of his shoulders, which she responded to with a simple, yet incredibly painful, relocation. In a panic, he managed to sneak off the dance floor as Sagitari went to the bathroom, and now he had a few minutes before the woman would arrive yet again. So, he took the time to catch his breath and watch the students who were on the dance floor. A group of four students, presumably from the same team, took control of the dance floor for a bit, but the other students slowly filed back and started dancing to some slower songs.

And, surprisingly, a couple of students were on the floor as well: Liu and Orphiucha. A slow waltz was playing, which the two danced really well to. Orphiucha, as dominant as usual, took the lead, while Liu followed, despite the height difference. It seemed to work perfectly, and soon a slow swirl of black and red took their place, moving along the ¾ time signature of the song. Seeing the two, both of whom didn't find someone to dance with before, made Ursus smile.

Seeing Sagitari come out of the bathroom, though, returned his frown.

* * *

"You're a good dancer," Liu complimented Orphiucha as they moved on the dance floor. One, two, three. One, two, three. The movement of the song played in his head as he moved around with the girl.

Orphiucha grinned. "You're not too bad yourself." She kept the pace, but Liu was a master at dancing himself. In fact, he loved it and did it multiple times with his sister back home for fun, so this kind of dancing was easy to him.

"Where did you learn to dance?" Liu jump-started conversation as they moved.

"I was taught as a young kid by my mother," Orphiucha finally opened up about her past, "She was a hard worker who provided manual labor in dust mines. Despite that, she always enjoyed things like classical music or dance, which she made me practice. I used to hate it, but now I think it wasn't absolutely terrible."

"My family was a big fan of that as well, specifically dance."

Orphiucha nodded and, again with surprise from Liu, asked a personal question, "How many are in your family?"

"Alongside my mother and father, I have an older brother and sister. Of course, you know my dad is a high-ranking general, but my mom is a math professor at one of the universities in Mistral. My brother is a full-fledged doctor, and my sister owns her own clothing shop in town."

"Sounds pretty diverse."

"Yeah, but that's what I like about my family. Anyways, how about you?"

Orphiucha bobbed her head a little while they danced. "Well, I have my mother."

"And your… father?"

Orphiucha shook her head. "I don't like to talk about him."

As they danced, Liu looked up and around at the people who were dancing. There were so many colors from so many suits and dresses. That being said, one caught his eye: white hair. It was Weiss, the Schnee next in line. Liu had never talked to her, but seeing her hair made him think…

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he looked down at Orphiucha. "Your father… can't be Weiss Schnee's father, right?"

Orphiucha looked at him weirdly, then suddenly broke into a laugh. "Me? A Schnee? Just the thought of that…"

Once again, her laughter reverberated throughout the dance hall, getting everyone's attention.

Liu looked around at the stares and gritted his teeth. "Okay, okay! I understand that it was a weird question. It's just… your hair looks like Weiss' hair color."

Orphiucha calmed down and nodded. "Well… you may not be too far off," she muttered.

"What was that?"

Orphiucha shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's keep dancing."

"Hey! Y'all are dancing?!" Sagitari burst through the groups of people and stood beside them with a limp Ursus. His pale face was a cause of concern for Liu, who swore he saw Ursus' soul leaving its body.

Orphiucha nodded. "That's right," she said before looking at Liu, then back to Sagitari, "Hey Tari, do you want to switch dance partners?"

Before Sagitari could even respond and a hint of hope revealed itself in Ursus' eye, Liu put his hand up. "It's fine! I'm enjoying my dance with Orph."

Sagitari tilted her head. "If that's what you want, then okay. But we can always switch when you two want to!"

With that, she pulled the near-corpse back to another part of the dance floor and started her violent ritual Sagitari assumed was dancing.

Orphiucha raised her eyebrow at Liu and asked, "Why did you decline? Don't you like Sagitari?"

Liu nodded. "Yeah, but looking at Ursus… I think it would be safer not to. Besides, I'm enjoying this dance with you."

That unintentional sentence made Orphiucha freeze intensely before blushing like crazy. "You know, you called me 'Orph' when Sagitari came by. The only people who have called me that are Sagitari and my mom."

Liu jolt back. "Oh! S-sorry! I didn't mean to! I heard Sagitari say it a few times, so I guess I just said it unconsciously!"

"I… I'm fine with it."

"You are?" Liu stopped cowering, only to have his hands gripped harder by a blushing Orphiucha.

"Shut up! L-let's dance some more!"

Before Liu could say anything, he was suddenly forced back into Orphiucha's dancing rhythm.

* * *

Liu and Orphiucha were standing outside, getting fresh air after the dance had come to an end. Both were sweaty, but being dance lovers, their enjoyment overcame the discomfort that came from being tired.

"That was fun," Orphiucha muttered as she caught some of her breath.

"Yeah… I thought so, too," Liu replied, his hands on his knees.

With no time to rest, Sagitari jumped out from the open door and landed between the two, giving them a scare. "Well, fancy seeing you two here!"

"Tari!" Orphiucha complained at the shock, "Where's Ursus?"

"Here," a weak voice said from the big doors. The same, tall team partner slowly wobbled out the door. He luckily seemed to have regained enough strength to walk on his own. Upon seeing Liu, he groaned, "Come on, Liu! Why'd you have to leave me with her?"

Liu held his hands up. "Hey! Look at my scrawny body! If she did that to you, imagine how I'd turn out!"

Sagitari playfully rolled her eyes. "I don't think you can really say that anymore, Liu! After all, you did stop a giant robot!"

"I was only lucky!"

Orphiucha chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I guess you are pretty weak."

"Hey, Orph! Cut it out," Liu grumbled.

"Anyways," Sagitari cut in, "You guys want to go somewhere?"

* * *

Liu never felt so homesick seeing the stars in the sky. Away from the lights of the dorms or the city, everything was so clearly visible in the backdrop behind the broken moon. It was a reminder of the beauty that always existed above them all.

"You know," he said, "I bet my family sees the same stars."

"It wouldn't be now, though," Ursus corrected, "It should be around day in Mistral."

"I know that. But when night happens, they'll see these stars, too."

The four managed to sneak onto one of the roofs of the school buildings, where the lights had all been shut off. According to Sagitari, she had found this place while exploring the school, and it definitely wasn't lacking. The floor was a little rough like gravel, but their team leader brought blankets, as if she had prepared for this before the dance even. She even brought drinks for them to sip on while watching the sky.

"I love the night sky," Sagitari said before drinking some of her soda.

"So many stars. It's a reminder of how small our world is," Orphiucha slowly spoke.

"We may be a small world, but it's our world," Liu continued, "Man, I miss home."

Ursus patted his back.

Sagitari, perhaps in an attempt to cheer him up or just by coincidence, took out a box. "Aw, come on! Look, Liu, maybe this will cheer you up!" She then passed the box over to him.

Liu hesitantly took it from Sagitari. "What's this?" he asked as he observed it.

"Oh come on, silly! Open it!"

Liu fought against the staples and tape that kept the box enclosed. Once he finally got it undone, he opened the package to find…

A scarf.

Liu picked up the scarf from the box and felt it. It was a metal, albeit springy, scarf, but it was a scarf. Nothing more, nothing less. It was pretty long, around 3 feet or so, but he assumed it could stretch far longer with how much he could stretch it out.

"Thanks?" he said hesitantly to Sagitari. "I suppose it is getting colder, huh?"

Sagitari laughed. "It's not for wearing, silly! It's your new weapon!"

"My… new weapon?"

"Of course!" Sagitari exclaimed, "When I saw that you could move the mech without it turned on, I came to realize that you can move metal with your semblance, especially if it's different pieces of metal touching one another. Look closer at the scarf!"

Liu turned on his scroll's flashlight and looked again to find that the scarf was, in fact, made up of hundreds of rings of metal that could stretch. "Whoa! Then, does that mean I can control it?"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Orphiucha said, "Use your semblance."

Liu nodded and closed his eyes. He reached into his electrical center and, as he had done with the mech, expanded the electricity towards the scarf. In the presence of metal nearby, his semblance automatically moved towards the object in a fit of attraction. Upon making contact with the metal, however, the scarf shot to life and started flying out of control.

Orphiucha, Sagitari, and Ursus took cover as the scarf thrashed everywhere it could.

"Shut the damn thing off!" Ursus yelled as he took cover at a distance. As much as he could try, Liu could not fully manipulate the object. Any push or pull he exerted on the scarf made it jump around even more wildly. With a grunt and a final pull, he shot the electricity back into his center, extinguishing any life out of the scarf.

"Okay," Sagitari said as she dubiously walked back, "That didn't go as planned."

"Sorry!" Liu said in his guilt, "I tried to move it, but it wouldn't listen to me."

Orphiucha's viper eyes gave a disapproving look to Liu, though she made no response.

However, Sagitari laughed to lighten the mood. "No, don't worry, Liu! That scarf is perfect for you! Think of it: It's the weapon only you can wield! You just need a bit more practice."

"But it messed up like all the other weapons I've tried."

Sagitari shook her head. "The last few were because of skill or because they just didn't work for you. This one is simply because you haven't used your semblance enough. Think of it like this: The mech you fought had three joints each limb, which meant four pieces of metal touching one another. On the other hand, this scarf is made up of hundreds of pieces of metal! It doesn't even compare!"

Liu slowly nodded. "Then that means it's just a bit harder to use, huh?"

"Yep!"

Orphiucha chuckled. "I think I'll pass helping you out with this. I don't want to get hurt. But, I am interested in seeing the end result."

Ursus nodded without a word, in his old, non-verbal fashion.

Liu smiled at his team and nodded back. "Then I'll use it. Thanks, Sagitari."

Sagitari gave him a big thumbs-up. "Don't mention it! And also…"

In a sudden jolt, the team leader grabbed Orphiucha's scroll. "It's time for a team picture!"

"Hey! Lay off my scroll," Orphiucha yelled as she dashed towards Sagitari.

In a dexterous set of movements, Sagitari pulled the attacking faunus into her left arm, grabbed Liu's elbow with her right, and jumped with the two just in front of the towering Ursus. Before anyone could react, the girl said "Cheese," as she brought up Orphiucha's scroll and snapped a group selfie. The flash blinded everyone.

"Hey! What was that for?" Liu asked as he rubbed his eyes. His eyesight slowly returned to a scene of Sagitari pushing back Orphiucha with one arm while she stared at the picture.

"This came out really good!" Sagitari cheered. She aimed the scroll towards the three others to reveal a photo of the three of them with surprise on their faces while Sagitari had a cheek-to-cheek grin. The silly photo gave Liu and Ursus a chuckle, while Orphiucha snatched back the scroll with a scowl.

"That wasn't funny," Orphiucha muttered.

Sagitari laughed as she put her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Oh, come on, Orph! We needed a group picture, and your scroll was the best option!"

"Best option? What does that even mean?"

"It means that…"

Liu grinned as he listened to his team members argue playfully. Angry as she may seem, Liu knew Orphiucha didn't hate being around Sagitari. Liu put the scarf around his neck and looked up at the stars. Sure, he was a bit homesick, but being with his friends took the edge off of the sadness he felt. Being with the people he liked changed his view on the world. It wasn't big. It was small. His family was so close, with only one phone call away.

His family was so close. They were right here, all along.

* * *

(Author's Note: I have returned from the Rivers of Hades! Ha ha, but seriously, it's good to be back! Sorry for being gone for two months, but... you know how it be. My job is kinda sucky, so I don't have much motivation a lot of the time. Fortunately, I got a good break, so I'm recharged. Hopefully, before I finish my contract, I can finish Revenant, but we'll see. Anyways, favorite, follow, do whatever you wish. I hope you enjoy this series, and God bless!)


	23. Chapter 23: After

RWBY: Revenant

Chapter 23: After – The Search for Liu

Being a bodyguard should be a nice and cushy job. Movies and TV shows always made it seem worse than it actually was. Especially becoming a bodyguard in the military? Why, that was the easiest job of all.

Then why was being Kang Xiu's bodyguard the worst thing to do? Josephine wondered this as she took cover behind a building, dodging the gunfire aimed in her direction. She scratched her dark blue, short hair, though her winter gloves provided no comfort for her itch.

"Ha, ha! What a surprise, huh?" her senior soldier said as he landed besides her, his thin, naturally grey hair flopping down as he created a small hole in the snow. He proceeded to run directly into the gunfire, his giant sword dragged by his side. Once in close distance to the bandits, he jumped in the air and threw his humongous sword into the ground. The impact created a large crater where the bandit wall once stood. At the sight of the explosion created by this man's awesome strength, the bandit guards started running towards the center of their base.

The older man, once he landed, pulled his sword out of the ground and turned back to where Josephine hid. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!"

Josephine groaned. It was cold. It was dark. Regardless, she consented and ran to her senior officer's position. She also snapped, activating her weapon, a set of ten, floating daggers that she controlled with a remote on her hand.

"We're going to get in, look around, and get out. Fighting is optional, but fun." The man was literally smiling.

"Captain Sagino, aren't we bodyguards? Why are we attacking a group of bandits?"

"We're under orders from Kang! Besides, we need to keep the peace!"

Josephine sighed and rolled her eyes at hearing him say the General's first name without a title. "You just like to fight."

The man laughed. "That I do!" He then proceeded to charge forward, followed by a hesitant Josephine. In a matter of seconds, however, the couple became surrounded in the base center, an unorganized mess of tents and crates. From every corner, these bandits appeared: the snow, the bushes, the watchtower, all of them with guns.

The leader of the bunch walked out from one of the tents nearby with a scowl. "May I ask under what jurisdiction my group deserved this attack?" she asked quietly.

Captain Sagino waved. "Hello! This is an attack under orders from General Kang. He's not too happy with what you're doing to the nearby villages. Besides, we're looking for someone. A kid by the name of 'Liu,' though apparently he calls himself 'Soul' now."

The woman pointed forward with rage in her eyes. "Shoot them!"

Upon orders, all of the guns pointed at the two fired at once. In the same amount of time, though, Josephine activated her plethora of daggers. Her speed didn't allow a single bullet to even graze her as she dodged and blocked them all. From her peripherals, she could see Sagino doing things his own way: blocking and taking every bullet, which he refused to let slow him down. In fact, it seemed as if he was getting faster. Once he got close to a bandit, he slammed the flat side of his sword into them, launching them several feet into the distance while breaking several bones in their body.

Josephine had to focus on her own issues at hand. She continued to skillfully move out of the way of the guns, waiting for the right moment to attack. She watched and waited, focus on one younger fighter with a machine gun who hid in the watchtower. He kept spraying without any sort of care, but that gave her what she needed. She watched and watched and…

There! Once the bandit had to reload his gun, Josephine shot one of her remote daggers at him. The blade pierced him in a non-lethal way, effectively incapacitating him. The distraction of the attack gave her the chance to move forward, and using the daggers as makeshift stairs, she climbed up onto the elevated watchtower where a group of five gunners were. Again, she used the surprise to her advantage, and shot five daggers out at once. Every single gunner fell to the ground, in pain but alive. With a snap of her remote finger, all the weapons she shot out returned to their sheaths lined all on her back. Even if she wanted a lazy life as a bodyguard, she worked hard for that life, so handling bandits proved no difficulty. It was just inconvenient to her.

With the gunner at the tower gone, she look down from her position to see the battlefield Captain Sagino had created. Any sort of bandit on the ground looked about as close to a corpse as they possibly could. Meanwhile, Sagino was covered in blood- both his and others- dashing from person to person. Some would try to fight him in hand to hand combat, but it proved fruitless as the Captain's iron-strength body only hurt to punch. Josephine had tried herself.

Josephine shook her head and looked around for the bandit leader, who was escaping at the back of the camp. With a snap from a different finger, Josephine released two daggers and jumped onto them. Using her hand as a controller, she flew out of the tower and chased the leader as fast as the daggers could fly, and snapped again to release two more daggers to fly at her side. Some bandits below tried to shoot at her, but her speed and distance gave her the cover she needed to keep from getting hit.

Once she came above the running leader, Josephine front-flipped in the air, grabbing the daggers she rode on, and dived below, directly towards her target. Such a fall could kill a person, even with snow to break their fall. It could even do major harm to a regular soldier. But Josephine's semblance strengthened her aura beyond what a regular soldier could do. In fact, if semblances were ranked from A to F, Josephine believed it was an A+. So, she confidently fell onto the bandit leader.

In a millisecond, Josephine slashed her daggers vertically and back flipped in order to land on her feet just behind the bandit leader. She didn't need to see that her target was hit, she just had to listen to the leader scream in pain as her hands fell off from her arms. That was enough.

* * *

"Congratulations on your successful mission, captain!" one soldier said to Josephine as she walked through the occupied camp. All bandits were alive, albeit heavily injured, giving the military the ability to come into their base. She didn't want to end this with fighting, but it had happened anyways.

Josephine simply nodded to the soldier. To the military, she was a genius, managing to become one of the General's bodyguards in only a year after graduation. Of course, that didn't give justice to the amount of work she put into her school life. Work that was meant for an easy and well-paying job.

Captain Sagino, wrapped with bandages like a mummy, walked towards Josephine and sat down beside her. "Kid! You did a great job last battle."

"I'm not a kid! And we wouldn't have gotten into that battle if you didn't go running in!"

Sagino just laughed. "Oh, come on, as if you didn't enjoy yourself!"

Josephine grunted. She did not imagine her job would turn out like this. She got promoted to the job of her dreams, and the first thing she has to do is go searching for the General's brat? If it didn't jeopardize her job, she would kill General Xiu's kid once they found him.

"Speak of the devil," she muttered as she saw General Kang walk towards them. He had a persistent look of worry on his face, perhaps due to his missing child, but it didn't stop anything he did, especially his job as the country's general.

"Sagino. Josephine. I heard your success here."

Josephine stood up and saluted. "Yes, sir!"

Sagino, however, simply nodded. "I'm sorry, general, but we didn't find Liu here."

Josephine gave Sagino a stare for mentioning that, but Sagino had a worried look rather than a relaxed look. As laid back as the man was, he genuinely cared for General Kang, in more than just physical protection.

Kang nodded back. "Well, don't worry. We've saved several villagers because of this mission."

Now that the topic was brought up, Josephine mustered the courage to ask. "Sorry, general, but have you heard anything about Liu's whereabouts? It's only been a few days since we went to the port he was supposed to be at."

Kang shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I received word from Belladonna confirming that he did take the boat back, and the captain told me he landed in the port only a day before we arrived. Liu must have run away the instant the boat dropped him off."

Josephine nodded. "I'm sorry, general."

Kang gave a forced smile. "Don't worry, Josephine. We'll find him. I just worry what condition he'll be in, both physically and mentally."

With that said, Kang left without even saying goodbye. Yet, an anger rose in Josephine. Anger towards this kid she had never met. Why did she have to watch as Liu made his father suffer? It confounded Josephine, and her anger was apparent through her clinched fist.

"Captain," she asked, "Why are we looking for this kid? Why is General Kang looking for him?"

Sagino frowned. "He's the son of Kang. Why wouldn't we?"

Josephine gritted her teeth. "He's also killed and harmed several people, hiding behind the name of Soul. Belladonna even told the general how violent Liu got in Menagerie. Knowing that, should we even look for this kid? He's-"

"Josephine," he replied, "Shut up."

She nearly recoiled at her elder captain's unusual response. Sagino sighed when he saw her do so.

"Liu is Kang's child. You don't understand the strength a bond between a parent and a child can be."

Josephine tapped her foot in confusion.

Sagino continued, "Do you know why Liu is doing this?"

Josephine shook her head. "What is it that warrants his actions?"

"Liu was a student at Beacon Academy, Josephine."

Just that sentence stopped Josephine's foot tap.

"He wasn't a student before the fall happened. No, he was a student exactly when it occurred. He had friends die- no, he watched friends die. In fact, he himself nearly died. After the fall, he was in the hospital for a few months, completely asleep."

Sagino looked down. "But when he awoke, Liu was completely different. It was more than just PTSD. It was like… a great emptiness consumed everything inside him. No more happiness. No more sadness. Just… emptiness. Kang believes, then, that Liu hopes getting revenge on those behind the fall of Beacon will fill that emptiness."

Sagino put his hand on Josephine's shoulders and looked her in the eyes with a hopeful smile. "It's our job to stop Liu before he discovers the truth."

"What truth?" Josephine asked.

"The horrible truth behind revenge."

* * *

Josephine stood in front of Kang's office door upon orders from Sagino as they rode the general's airship back to the capital. When she started only a few months ago, she always stood at attention, believing it would be the most physical work her job would force upon her. As proven by Sagino, however, body guarding never required that level of formalities. So, she simply listened to music in one ear while doing a large amount of random activities, usually involving her daggers. For today, she was practicing balancing all of them on her ten fingers.

Carefully, she counted in her head, as if a single thought would have blown the daggers away. _Two-hundred forty-five, two-hundred forty-six, two-hundred forty-seven…_

Without warning, a hand touched Josephine's shoulder. Rather than jump in surprise, though, she channeled her training, and immediately threw all ten of the daggers in the air. With a quick snap and a twirl, she took control of her weapons and directed them at the one who touched her.

Captain Sagino chuckled fearlessly as he looked around at the daggers surrounding him. "You got some reflexes, kid."

In his hands were two plastic bowls of soup, one of which he raised towards his fellow bodyguard. Josephine snapped her fingers and sheathed her daggers, then grabbed the bowl. "You left me in charge of guarding the general, just for you to go to the cafeteria? What if he was attacked?"

Sagino laughed. "Please. Even if you were beaten, the attacker would still have to deal with the general, and you know that he's no pushover."

Josephine nodded. It was true that the general was, quite honestly, the strongest person she had ever met. A powerful weapon. A powerful semblance. Reflexes quick enough to cut a bullet in half. Even when he held back in sparring with Sagino and Josephine, General Kang won a majority of the time. That was, after all, the reason she thought being a body-guard for him was the perfect job. Nothing to guard. Of course, her expectations were shattered, and it became apparent to her that this job was more akin to a direct subordinate rather than a body-guard.

Sagino calmed himself and patted for her to sit down beside her. "Take a seat, kid."

Josephine obediently sat down beside him quietly. Sagino slowly stirred his soup. "I'm sorry for telling you to shut up before."

Josephine shook her head. "Don't apologize. I understand why you were so serious."

Sagino shook his head as well. "No, I hate those kind of people who are too serious," he sighed, "Did you know that the general and I were best friends back in the day? There were three of us: The general, me, and Cam. We were in the same classes in primary school and the same team in our academy days. We vowed to compete for the position of general, and the losers would be their guards. Kang won without any sort of competition from us. So, we became his personal guards."

Josephine looked down once she saw the look of pain on Sagino's face. She knew she was replacing the position of Cam. "I'm sorry."

However, Sagino just chuckled his sadness away. "What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything! I'm sure he would consent to you taking his position, Josephine, so look up!"

Josephine looked up to see Sagino's eyes glitter slightly in the light. "Besides, the past can't be changed. Of course we shouldn't forget him, but we shouldn't focus on the past either. All we can do is focus on what we have now. Kang knows this, too, and that's why he's trying to get Liu. Because he's something that's in the present, not in the past."

Josephine nodded. "I'll… remember that. I'm sorry for my frustrations, captain."

Sagino grinned. "It's Sagino, Josephine. You often forget we're the same rank. I'm just a little older is all."

Josephine smiled back. Before they could relax, however, a messenger dashed towards their position.

"Captain Josephine! Captain Sagino! I have a message for the General!"

Sagino slowly got up. "Hold your horses. What's going on?"

The messenger gave a tablet to the man. With a few careful swipes, he got to the message that was of great concern for the general.

Josephine pulled herself up as well, asking, "What's the message about?"

Sagino made no response. His eyes moved left to right as he read the message, and soon his expression changed from confusion to gleeful surprise.

"We need to tell the general!"

* * *

Kang Xiu crossed off another position on the Mistral map, ticking off where he predicted Liu would not be. In frustration, he slammed the pen on the table and walked towards the window, looking out towards the distant ground of Mistral. "Where are you, Liu?" he muttered to himself.

It had already been four months since he search had begun, or at least his scouts searched for him. It pained Kang that he couldn't go out himself, but under law, such an act by the general was not allowed, especially when it involved the land of other kingdoms. Thus, all he could do was receive reports and arrive after the fighting had occurred.

Kang pushed his fingers through his black hair and returned back to the table where his tablet and map lay. He had to keep looking through his scout reports, checking what areas could and could not be where Liu was. Before he could pick his pen back up, however, a knock came at the door, followed by the entrance of Sagino and Josephine. Both smiled.

"General," Sagino said before Kang could even respond, "Liu's in Mistral."

General Kang sighed. "Is this a joke, Sagino? We know this!"

"Err, sir, we don't mean that," Josephine said. "He's _in _Mistral. As in, the city."

"Mistral City?" Kang checked.

Sagino nodded. "Yep! Mistral City!"

Without a moment's thought, he grabbed the intercom. "Whoever is piloting, turn our position to Mistral City!"

"General, sir," Josephine said again, "We're already en route there."

"Oh," General Kang said in forgetfulness.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thank you for reading this current chapter! Follow, favorite, do what you want. I do hope you enjoy it, though! Anyways, I wanted to say how my idea for this story started. Usually when I play games or watch TV, I always seem to unintentionally create original characters in that certain universe, always separating them from the path of the actual main characters, and just try to imagine how their story goes on. Some of those stories, I wouldn't mind writing on this website, but for now, I'm focusing on RWBY: Revenant. I started with just Liu post-fall of Beacon. I didn't even give him a voice in his head when I first imagined the story, but slowly, I started to develop him into the character he is now. Then, when that was done, I created his teammates, then all their backstories, and I realized writing a double-plot story from different times would be very interesting. Anyways, see y'all and God bless!)


	24. Chapter 24: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 24: After – Mistral City

Soul awoke from his dream in a cold sweat, which continued to play in his head even as he looked towards the sunlit window. Him, standing over corpses and corpses. It kept playing in his head. Blood, soaking his hands and refusing to wash off. It kept playing in his head. His three targets, standing at a distance, untouched by the horrors. It kept playing in his head.

The cycle was too much for him, and Soul slammed his fist into the wall, shaking the room.

_You want to talk about what just went on in your head? _the Voice popped in, an unwilling witness to the dream herself. Concern continued to remain prevalent in her voice anytime she addressed Soul, even if she was having a disagreement with him now.

"I'm… not that. I know I'm not that."

_You're changing,_ the Voice simply stated.

Soul growled. "No! I'm not that. I'm not a monster."

_And now you've started lying to yourself._

Soul clinched his fist, but relented and let go. It was too late to tell himself what he wasn't. He was a murderer. He was a monster. He's come this far, so what's the point in lying?

Slowly, he climbed out of his small bed, and walked towards the other side of his inn room. Like ripping a bandage off, he threw open the curtains to the beautiful sight of Mistral City. Hundreds of buildings all lined up on the side of mountains, built around the same type of Mistral architecture. Sure, some were unique, but all pertained to the architecture this kingdom had cultivated. At the center of it all fell one large waterfall that glowed with the small outline of a rainbow from Soul's position, and at the top of the waterfall sat the largest building of the city, the capital building. The geography of the place was a little strange, but it's supposed to represent the power of the kingdom, Soul supposed.

"Beautiful place, huh?" Soul asked.

_Yep_, the Voice said quickly with a forced disinterest sprouting from her voice. She was still bitter about Soul's decision, but retained that she would stay by his side. It had only taken a few days for Soul to arrive at the city, giving him ample time to wait for Adam to attack. He'd specifically chosen the closest hotel to the academy, in pursuit of this. But now, he could do nothing until Adam's arrival. Every day became torture as he felt antsy at the White Fang's attack. He wanted so desperately to face his friend's murderer that he had the perpetual feeling of butterflies in his stomach.

The beauty of the scenery, in the end, did not overshadow his emotional state, nor did it stop his stomach from growling. He closed the window and spun around towards his backpack, taking out money that he stole from a couple of thieves on the road. He pulled his sweater over his head and, with a small touch of electricity, pulled the sweater into his sleeve like a snake.

"Let's go outside," Soul said to the Voice as he pushed the door open.

_Okay, _she replied passionlessly.

"I'm sure you'll want to see what Mistral City is like."

_Great._

* * *

The streets were fairly crowded, though nowhere near the level of Menagerie's main street. Tall buildings lined the sides of the road, and filled Soul with a strange nostalgia. Mistral city was close in structure to his old hometown, only a tad grander and more packed. There were a small amount of beggars, but the street Soul was walking down was a good part of town, so the number remained very limited. Soul continued walking down the cobblestone road, looking for a place to find some food.

Eventually, he found something that peaked his interest: a market around the corner. Following the sign and the loud crowds that seemed to also look hungry, Soul reached a large set of stands, filled to the brim with fruits, vegetables, meats, and even some fully-cooked meals. The sight, and more importantly the smell, made his stomach rumble even more, and it made him walk more quickly towards the first stand.

"Hello!" the stand owner said, "Are you interested in some fresh vegetables? Two liens less than whatever the liar over there is selling!"

Suddenly, another stand owner's voice erupted from the left, making Soul jump. "Hey! I'll sell you this fresh watermelon for only one lien!"

"Don't listen to him-"

"Please, sir, have a taste-"

"I'll sell you anything I own! Even my-"

Soul quickly walked away from the entrance, where the loudest merchants seemed to be. Besides, he was staying in the hotel. He had no way of refrigeration, so buying fruit or veggies seemed useless. Instead, he moved towards the back, where the full-meal stands seemed to be. Some owners were brewing large vats of soup. Others were masterfully throwing dough in the air. He even saw a man juggle fruit, which he cut in the air.

There was one stand, however, that did more than make his mouth drool. It made him stand in the center of the set of merchants, dumbfounded and surprised. It was the hat. The musketeer hat.

It was Athos, who caught eyes with Soul. The surprise mirrored in his face as well, and the noodles he was stretching fell out of his hands, and onto the table.

"Liu?!"

* * *

Soul sat down in the small wooden table with attached chairs just as Athos came by with two plates of noodles. "Here you go," Athos said with a smile, "Two of the family specials."

After sitting down, Athos took off his hat, revealing a far shorter hair-do than before. It was parted at the center and pulled backwards, though his thin bangs moved gracefully with the wind.

"You cut your hair," Soul said as he started digging into the complimentary meal.

"And you grew yours out," Athos replied. "Strange to see you up and about. The last thing I heard was that you were in the hospital."

"I recovered a few months ago," Soul said. With a false smile, he continued, "Anyways, what's happening with you? I thought you had a mission to become a soldier."

Athos chuckled a bit. "Supporting my family comes first. I guess you could say it's a blessing in disguise after what happened."

Soul nodded and kept silent, as survivors of the Fall seemed to do.

Interrupting the silence, however, was the introduction of two women, possibly college students. "Excuse me," the left one said, "Could we sit on the other side?"

Like from out of a time machine, Athos jumped up and bowed. "Of course, my ladies! Just say the word, and I may shower you with any generosity!"

The two girls, gave each other nervous looks before the right one spoke. "Never mind, we'll sit somewhere else."

Their exit, and Athos' defeated expression, made Soul chuckle a bit. "I'm glad you haven't changed, Athos."

"Hey, I've changed plenty! I'm still training as always, and I will one day join the Mistral army!" Athos stated confidently.

However, the mention of change made Soul frown a bit. He couldn't forget what the Voice told him.

_You've changed._

Soul rubbed his eyes, a sight that concerned Athos. "You okay, Liu?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a little headache."

Suddenly, the bell of Athos' stand rang, indicating his substitute required him to take over one more. "Shoot," Athos complained, "Well, if you're still in town, why don't you come by tonight and we can catch up some more, Liu? I'd like to hear what's been happening with you since Beacon."

Quietly, he could hear the Voice, who kept quiet, snicker sarcastically.

Soul nodded. "Sure, I'll come by around six or so."

With a nod and a tilt of his hat, Athos returned to his market stand and continued his noodle cooking.

_You've hardly touched your food, _the Voice spoke up.

Soul shook his head and gulped his noodles quickly, within the span of thirty seconds. "How's that?"

_Good, I suppose. _

He groaned. "I don't want to change. I don't want to become what that dream was. But… I know it's inevitable."

The Voice grumbled back. _Soul, you've talked about this so much. Can you just stop thinking and look forward to seeing a friend tonight?_

Soul nodded. "Okay."

He carefully stood up and threw the plate into the trash nearby. "Did I ever tell you about the time Athos and I fought?" he mumbled quietly while walking back to the hotel?

_No, and I don't think I read it in your memories either._

Soul smiled a tad bit. "It was a fun fight. Only a few weeks after…"

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Sorry it's another short chapter, but I promise the next after chapter will be far longer... maybe... Anyways, have a good night, and God bless!)


	25. Chapter 25: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 25: Before – Team Assignments

Liu sat in the same, foggy meadow as before, only this time, he was the visitor. He walked towards the same rock he had always sat on, finding the usual black-haired woman he talked with in his dream. Upon seeing him, the woman's face lit up and she patted beside her.

"Ah, Liu! Come sit down! I'm just admiring the sights of Mistral. At least, what your mind conjures."

Liu nodded and sat down to the left of her. "Strange you're here first."

"I'm an early-bird, I guess you could say. Anyways, how are you?"

Liu smiled. "Good."

"I suppose you worked out the issue that was going on."

He nodded again. "My team is back together again."

The woman chuckled. "That's great. And what about you?"

Liu looked at his hands in reflection. "I think for the first time since I've come to Beacon I've come to realize how important my friends are. I don't think I can give up on them anymore, so I'm going to get stronger. I need to get stronger."

The woman laughed. "That's more like it! I have high hopes for you then." With that, she suddenly touched his back, which made him jolt off of the rock.

"Ah! That scared me! What was that for?"

The woman tilted her head before realizing what happened. "Oh! I'm sorry, you just remind me so much of…"

In the distance, a set of mushroom clouds rose from the ground at a constant pace, the sound nearly deafening to Liu. He looked to the woman, who could only wave goodbye as she disappeared into the mist. Liu was then left alone as the wind's pace grew ever faster. His feet, as strong as they were, could do nothing as he was eventually blasted away with the rubble and rocks that flew past him.

* * *

Liu awoke to the sound of cymbals, played by Sagitari and accompanied by the fast-paced assault from Orphiucha against that team leader as she screamed curses.

"You… idiot! Why did you wake me up like that?" Orphiucha yelled.

Ursus had a sleepy look just like Liu's. Both of them had no idea what to think. At the very least, they were far too tired to get angry at Sagitari.

"I can't help it," she responded to Orphiucha, "Today is the day we get our team assignments!"

"Team… what?" Liu mumbled.

"Team assignments! We'll be tasked to work alongside hunters and huntresses across the kingdom of Vale! We're pretty much just shadowing their work and seeing what they do! It's like an extended field trip!"

"So you bought cymbals in anticipation," Ursus pieced together.

"Yep!"

In this small distraction, Orphiucha grabbed the cymbals from Sagitari's hands and proceeded to throw them out the window. A delayed and muffled sound of a cymbal crash resounded from down below. With that accomplished, Orphiucha jumped back into bed and said, "We have a few more hours before we go. Just let me sleep."

Sagitari, however, was not the kind of person to give up. With Orphiucha laying down, Sagitari jumped onto her bed, encircled her hands around Orphiucha's laying torso, and threw her backwards off the bed in a suplex. She then stood back up triumphantly over the unconscious faunus. "Anyone else want to go back to sleep?" Sagitari said with a mischievous smile.

Needless to say, Ursus and Liu dashed to the bathroom.

* * *

Liu froze in front of the screen that listed every team's assignment. He read his team's line just about twenty times before the reality of the situation really sunk in.

_Team SOUL: Grimm Tracking and Hunting – Eastern Vale_

_ Assigned Hunters: Kang Xiu, Sagino Euro, Cameron Cid_

It was rare to get more than one hunter for a team. This was an exception, though. They weren't following a hunter.

It was Liu's dad, and his bodyguards, Uncle Sagino and Uncle Cam. If this wasn't supreme embarrassment, Liu didn't know what was.

"Did you find our team, Liu?" Sagitari inquired from behind.

At the sound of that, Liu jumped in front of the screen, not just confounding his team, but aggravating the other students who tried to look. "There's nothing to see here!"

"What's going on?" Orphiucha asked

"Get out of the way, idiot!" a random student yelled.

Before any more arguments could occur, Sagitari came forward and pulled Liu aside. Try as he might, he could not fight back against her strength. A sound of relief came from the crowd once he was removed, but it did not reflect Liu's tense feelings.

"You know, we should use a different TV! This one is a little messed up. How about that one, or that…?"

The distractions proved fruitless and his team members' faces showed great excitement.

"No way! We get to shadow one of the great generals of Mistral?!" Sagitari cheered, literally jumping for joy.

"Not only that, we get to meet Liu's dad," Ursus added.

Orphiucha smiled and chuckled a bit, eyeing Liu with pleasure in his embarrassment.

Liu looked down in defeat.

"Oh, don't be like that, Liu! I'm sure we'll have a great time, and your dad will love to see your progress. Maybe he can even give you tips on how to use your scarf!"

"Have you practiced with it, anyways?" Orphiucha asked.

Liu grabbed the end of the scarf on his neck and pulled it off. "I've tried a bit, but…"

He summoned his semblance and pushed it in the direction of his hand. Involuntarily, the electricity jumped into the scarf and shot it around like flag in the wind, though nowhere near as strong as on the roof after the dance.

"I can limit the electricity a bit, but it's still nearly impossible to move the scarf like how I want it to."

"Well, we'll figure it out these next two weeks," Sagitari said.

Liu nodded as he sucked the electricity back. "There is one thing I can do, though."

Before he could explain his findings, his scroll suddenly rang in his pocket. Hesitantly, he looked down at the screen, and saw his father's text: _Come to the docks with your team. We're gonna do some pre-trip preparations._

* * *

Liu and his team came up to the Mistral-colored airship at the end of the port, where his father and the two bodyguards stood. Sagitari was at the forefront of the group, jogging her way to Kang Xiu while Liu and the others walked over calmly. _Of course, _Liu complained to himself, _Dad just had to bring out his personal airship. _Unlike when he first came to Beacon, Kang wore combat equipment, perhaps clothing that he had desired to put on since he accepted the position of general. Attached to his back was a two-handed metallic claymore, enchantingly named Wind's Thunder. He and his bodyguards were passing money between one another, which Liu guessed could be about who was the strongest member. Though he wasn't a betting man, Kang Xiu was always open to new things, and Liu could guess Sagino was the one who brought it up.

"S-sir!" Sagitari spoke in between breaths as she arrived in front of Kang. "I'm very pleased to meet you!" Liu face-palmed seeing Sagitari practically droll in amazement at his father.

Very seriously, Kang looked down at her and said in a grim tone, "Isn't it customary to salute or bow to the general?"

Sagitari's expression quickly did reversed, and she bowed. "I'm very sorry, sir!"

Liu stopped himself as he saw his father stare angrily at the girl in front of him. He was flabbergasted. Never before had Kang ever acted like this. Perhaps he was having a tough time at work, or he didn't sleep well, or…

The general's straight mouth slowly started to curl as sounds of chuckling escaped from his closed lips. Then, like a fountain, he started laughing, followed by his bodyguards. "I'm just messing around! Sorry…"

"S… Sagitari."

"Sorry, Sagitari! Man, you should have seen the look on your face!"

Sagitari stood there speechless. "Well, look here," Orphiucha kidded as she arrived beside their team leader, "It's not every day that you see Sagitari become the butt of the joke."

"Dad! What was that for?" Liu groaned once he finally arrived near the airship.

Kang turned towards Liu, and expertly grabbed his son and rubbed his head. "Son! How's my champ doing? Sleep well last night?"

"Dad! Seriously? Not here!" Liu pushed his father away in embarrassment. "Hello, Uncle Sagino, Uncle Cam."

Uncle Sagino was still laughing like the jolly guy he was. "Hey there, Liu! Haven't seen you in a long time!"

Cam slightly chuckled. He was the most elegant and calm of the three, though he still took part in their shenanigans. "Don't you remember when we traveled with them just a few months ago?"

"Oh! Forgive this old man, Liu! I seem to be losing my memory."

Kang laughed and moved beside Sagino and Cameron. "Yeah, if only you were a bit less careless, then you'd be able to remember those twenty lien I let you borrow!"

Sagino still kept chuckled. "Oh, no! I'm not falling for that again!"

After Kang got his laughter under control, he turned to the four students. "Well, nice to meet you all! I'm glad to finally see the team members I've heard so much about! Can you all tell me your names?"

Sagitari started. "Sagitari Kaus!"

"Ursus Polaris."

"Dad, you know me already!"

"Orphiucha Rasalhague"

Kang Xiu stopped at Orphiucha and looked very closely at her. "You… look very familiar. Who are your parents?"

Once Orphiucha started to make a worried face, Sagitari reflexively spoke up. "Sir! Do you want to see our weapons?"

Kang shook himself out of his stupor and nodded. "Great idea, Sagitari! Actually, before we leave, why don't we have a friendly game?"

"Dad, are you really doing this?" Liu grumbled.

Kang laughed. "Come on, this is important for the mission! I want to see how all of you fight. So, anyone want to go first?"

Immediately, Sagitari raised her hand. "Oh! Me! Me!"

"Alright then, let's start!"

* * *

At the edge of the port, Sagitari and Kang sparred, though a game of tag was more like it. Sagitari punched all she could in order to hit Kang, but his experience allowed him to dodge all of the attacks with ease. This had been going on for nearly five minutes.

"So, I suppose this is the best you can do?"  
"Not yet!" Sagitari smiled. She then activated her semblance, giving her a higher level of strength and speed. "Now you'll have no way to dodge!" Bringing her fists together in excitement, she dashed towards Liu's father once more with triple the speed from before.

The challenge made Kang grin a bit, who finally pulled the sword off his back. This time, he was finally forced to block attacks with his sword as well as dodge, though Liu still knew he wasn't being pushed to his limits. Besides, he didn't even try to attack back, instead testing Sagitari's strength by playing defensively.

That was until she began a new strategy. A rare sight, the team leader jumped backwards and changed her brass-knuckles into mini-pistol form. Once at a far distance, she changed her direction and came forward again, this time shooting as well. Ranged-attacks, however, proved little challenge to Kang, who blocked, slashed, and dodged every single bullet that came towards him.

That was what she wanted, however. Resetting her left weapon into a brass knuckle once more, she-

With speed faster than experienced by Sagitari, Kang came forward, just in front of her. The teleportation-like movement shocked everyone, even Sagitari. The result forced her to panic, and caused her to switch back into close-ranged mode. She threw her usual barrage of punches, but they instead became more erratic, some even missing. In this moment, Kang hardly had to move, letting the punches move around him, or misdirect them with his sword. This exchange showed that he had this in the bag.

Or at least what's what Liu thought.

No one noticed when Sagitari's missing punches redirected themselves into hooks, but they almost caught Kang by surprise. His expression reflected shock when her left hand grazed his cheek, and forced him to dodge backwards. Such a loss of ground, however, allowed Sagitari to gain the rhythm of the battle, and she hardly gave the general a time to relax. She sprinted forward with no reservations, as Kang kept smiling.

Then, Kang put away his sword. The action confused Sagitari who, in a mere few milliseconds, faltered, and her punches lost the strategic level of movement they had before. Seeing this, Liu already knew who would win. Kang put his hands into the shape of c's and held them out at the incoming combination of punches.

Sagitari threw a light jab.

Kang redirected it to the left.

Sagitari threw two quick jabs.

Kang redirected both at the same speed.

Sagitari threw a strong punch with her right arm.

Kang moved aside, grabbed her bicep and forearm, and threw her over his shoulders.

Sagitari landed and dashed forward yet again, and threw out a running hook.

Kang didn't move, and the hook passed the front of his face. Then, grabbed Sagitari's

face, kicked the back of her legs, and threw her down into the ground. Finally, he pulled his sword out and stabbed into the ground, beside her head.

"Good, good," Kang said as he patted the dust off his hands, "You almost surprised me."

He held his hand out to Sagitari, who laid on the ground, still shocked. She took a while to accept it. "Th-thank you, sir!"

"Think nothing of it," he then turned to the three others. "Now, who will go next?"

Ursus was quick to raise his hand in anticipation.

* * *

After the best member of the team went down quickly, Liu assumed Ursus would fall far more easily. Still, Ursus was not one to give up. The instant the spar started, he stabbed his spear into the ground, raising the concrete floor around Kang and trapping him in a circle. Ursus himself stood on top of the perimeter that he had just created, a good fifteen feet in the air. With another stab, the circle speedily shrunk, hoping to crush Kang in the center of it all. What occurred next, though, Liu easily predicted: his father jumped out of the top with ease as the floor crumpled under him. While his opponent was in the air, however, Ursus released the chained blade out from the shaft and threw it into the air. The blade quickly whipped around in the air, hoping to get a successful hit on the general.

Liu sighed.

"What's up?" Sagitari asked. She and Orphiucha had a puzzled look.

"I've just seen my father fight long enough to know that that attack won't work."

Sagino and Cam snickered at that. They, too, knew how the fight would end.

Still in the air, Kang took his claymore from his back and blocked every single time the blade came towards him. Then when the chance presented himself, he intentionally caught his sword inside of Ursus's chain. Sure, it did look like it was all of part of Ursus's plan, but Liu knew his father could never fall for such a plot.

Ursus tapped his spear once more, activating the chain to come back. As expected, Kang's sword, and effectively Kang himself, were pulled to the ground with it. Ursus grinned and put his hand on the ground, changing the floor into a quicksand pit. Then, the true plan of the general occurred: Kang gave a quick yank then let go of the sword, letting him land to the left of his team SOUL opponent. Without any time to rest, Kang kicked Ursus' stomach, grabbed his sword once it was in range, pulled it out of the chain, and finally put the flat end of the weapon on the back of Ursus' neck. It was absolutely flawless.

"Good try," Kang said as he returned his sword to his back, "You still have a lot of potential."

Ursus bowed. "Thank you, sir!"

Sagino cursed and whispered to Cam, "Looks like I owe you fifteen lien."

"Now," Kang looked at the two remaining students, "Which one will go next?"

Neither Orphiucha, nor Liu dared raise their hand.

"Okay, then let's go, Liu!"

* * *

Liu took his scarf and wrapped it around his left forearm before the fight started, just past where the short sleeves of his shirt ended. Even if his control over the scarf was weak, there was one thing he could make it do, and that was constriction. He had discovered this by accident only last week. Once his scarf was completely surrounding his arm, he could inject his semblance into it. Liu didn't understand too much, but it seemed the scarf hardened significantly when he put his electricity into it and pulled on it just ever so slightly. Through tests that gradually used more force, Liu found that the metallic scarf acted like a shield in this form. This would be a good time to test it out in battle.

The start of the battle made Liu realize how much he had grown. His pose reflected the confidence he had gained since the start of the semester. He now held his one-handed leaf sword with one hand rather than both, instead relying on his left hand for blocking attacks with his scarf. His dominant foot stood outwards while his left foot aimed perpendicular to where he was looking. His left arm was slightly tucked into his body while its hand was curled into a fist as if he were going to use it to punch. It was a stance that felt very comfortable, as well as revealed to Liu what his fighting style could potentially become.

Liu shook his head. He couldn't think too much about that. He knew his father would not be the one to attack first, so he charged forward, sword and scarf at his side. He had to show his father how far he had come.

Once in distance, Liu started with a wide, very predictable, vertical slash, and though Kang moved away with no difficulty, he had a big grin on his face. Perhaps he was pleasantly surprised to find his son could attack now. Liu couldn't let that go to his head, though; he came forward once again and released a quick set of slashes, none of which had the same speed as Sagitari, nor the strength of Ursus. This allowed his father to dodge all of the attacks with ease.

Liu couldn't leave it like this, though. He had to get an attack out of his father, and he had an idea how to do so. He continued to attack more and more, which his father reacted against by simply dodging backwards. Yet, that was what he wanted. Just a few more and steps, and…

His father's eyes widened when he stepped into something soft: The quicksand pit left behind by Ursus' fight. Liu had no doubt his father could get out of the sand, but the delay gave him the chance he needed to bait his father to use the sword.

Liu unleashed a strong horizontal strike. Seeing the blade coming his way, Kang took out his claymore and held it vertically to block the attack. Once Liu's sword bounced back at the larger weapon, Kang then brought his sword down on his son, lacking the strength he would have used in a true battle. But, Liu wanted this test. He expectantly held his covered left forearm against the incoming blade. Once the sword met with the scarf, Liu was surprised to find that the scarf managed to block the strike, with Liu only feeling the slight touch of pins and needles through his arm. His father seemed surprised too, but he didn't let that stop him.

Instead, Kang back-flipped out of the sand, and landed on the other side of the sandpit. Liu tried to release his scarf in the hopes of grabbing him, but like before, the scarf just simply flapped around like a flag. His father looked at the scarf in confusion.

"S-sorry," Liu muttered as he pulled the scarf back.

Kang, perhaps ready for the fight to end, jumped over the pit and started his own attack against Liu, just after his son managed to wrap the scarf back around his left forearm. Seeing the sword come towards him horizontally, Liu held his armored arm forward, pushing the claymore away. Again, his father came back with three more quick strikes, which Liu blocked once more. Strangely, each hit seemed to bounce off of his scarf as if Kang's sword was being pushed away. That, however, did not prevent the pins and needles feeling, which got stronger and more prominent each time he successfully blocked a slash.

Finally, his father brought his sword back with a serious amount of force that frightened Liu a bit. That being said, Liu was confident in his arm, so he felt it up once more, even if the next attack would be powerful. Once the claymore came into contact with his arm, however, the pins and needles feeling peaked, and after the sword was bounced back one more time, Liu felt his semblance shoot back into his body and leave the scarf limp. The feeling of such a sudden change made him shiver, and he could barely move. Like all the fights before, his father took this advantage and put the flat end of the blade against the side of Liu's torso.

"I'm impressed," Kang said with a smile.

"I didn't do well, though." Liu's shaking stopped quickly, allowing him to move and put the scarf back around his neck. He still felt the feeling of disappointment coming from his father, hidden behind the prideful smile.

Kang shook his head. "You did fine, and you've grown tremendously. I even remember when you couldn't hit someone! You're very different now, and that scarf of yours is helping immensely! May I see it?"

Liu nodded and removed the scarf from his left arm. He then handed it to his father, who closely evaluated the weapon. "It's interesting how it managed to block not just one, but five of my attacks."

After the quick check, Kang handed it back and turned to Orphiucha. "Alright, missy, are you ready?"

* * *

Orphiucha started her fight by slapping her batons together, changing their colors to red and blue. After noticing the three failing from trying to attack him directly, Orphiucha instead chose to attack at a distance, slashing waves of fire and ice at Kang.

This caught Kang off-guard, who for the first time had to actually run around in order to get away from the beams. Waves of red and blue passed through the dock, but none could hit him. Those that managed to get close enough were swiftly cut apart by his claymore. The general continued to run in a circle around Orphiucha, but each completed circumference seemed smaller than the one before. He slowly, but surely, was making his way towards the center, where Orphiucha continued to fire her dust waves.

However, Orphiucha quickly knew this was happening, and instead made the inevitable dash towards Kang. As she moved forward, though, she hit her batons together and changed them to yellow, indicating lightning.

The instant he saw that, Liu knew she was going to lose faster than any of the others.

"Orph! Don't use lightning!"

The warning came too late, and she had already swung her batons down on his sword. Once that happened, however, the light of her batons immediately disappeared, and Kang's sword instead glowed with the light yellow color.

"W-what's happening?" Sagitari stuttered.

"My father has one of the strongest lightning semblances you can find. When Orphiucha chose to use lightning, she unknowingly gave him her whole dust stash."

"No way…" Ursus muttered.

Kang held his sword up in the air, which continued to glow. Rather than use it, however, he slashed to the left, in the direction where no airships or people stood. While he released the energy the same way Orphiucha did, his wave of energy was several times larger than her's. The energy flew into the distance where it eventually dissipated, leaving Team SOUL stunned.

Well, save for Orphiucha. She was rarely fazed by anyone. Immediately after he released the lightning, the faunus girl came forward with her powerless weapons and slammed them against the man's sword once more. Using her fast speed, she jumped around, striking then jumping back and forth against the unmovable statue that was Kang. No matter where she attacked, however, the general easily blocked them all.

After several attacks proved fruitless, Kang grabbed the two batons in mid-attack and pulled them away. He then brought them forward against their user before stopping just before her face.

"Not bad," he said, "But why didn't you use your semblance?"

Orphiucha pulled her batons from his grip and blushed in embarrassment and how quickly she lost. "I don't have a semblance."

Kang gave a puzzled look. "I'm sure you do. Semblances always manifest in people. There's no case where someone isn't born without it."

"It… got stolen."

Kang nodded hesitantly. "Okay…"

With that ended, both walked back to the side of the airship. "Now, then, here's what we're going to do: For two weeks, we will be working in the Valeian forests hunting grimm, and relatively strong ones at that. That being said, I have confidence in all of you. The four of you will be going through intense training during our time out there to help with it. All of you have something that needs to be worked on, so I hope you all will-"

Suddenly, Kang stopped talking and looked at Orphiucha in shock. "Wait a second, your last name is Rasalhague?"

Orphiucha looked a bit flustered and looked away. "Y-yes?"

He then snapped his fingers. "That's how I knew you! You father married a faunus woman with the last name of Rasalhague! Isn't his name… Agustus?"

Finally, the cat was let out of the bag. Whatever unspoken deal Sagitari and Orphiucha had had failed, and the past, or at least some of it, had been revealed. Orphiucha immediately turned away without responding and entered into the airship, her facial expression completely blank except for her eyes, which spoke a million words of pain. Sagitari looked down in shock, as if her mission had failed.

Who was this man? Liu had no knowledge of Agustus, but one thing was true: He had brought pain to Orphiucha.

* * *

(Author's Note: Thanks for reading another long chapter! We're getting into another character arc, so I hope you'll enjoy it. If you like this series, favorite or follow it and give me a good review! Or not, either is okay. Anyways, have a good night and God bless! ...Oh, you're still here? Well... uhh, what's a good rwby OC fanfiction on this website? I must say, I kinda prefer OC fanfiction stuff. They don't contradict exist character qualities, and people have the creative liberties to do whatever they want. It even seems like the RWBY universe is kinda perfect for OC stuff. Anyways, THIS TIME, have a good night and God bless! ..._are we off the air, now? Come on, shut that recorder off! Shut it o-_)


	26. Chapter 26: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 26: After – Catching Up

Soul froze. It was as if the hustle and bustle of the restaurant went silent, and his field of vision became narrower and narrower. Anyone who did appear in his vision was completely quiet and frozen. The only thing that accompanied the silence was the cold sweat on his palms. His eyes focused on one person. The one he didn't want seeing what Soul had become.

His father.

Kang turned around and smiled. "Liu! I'm glad I finally found you!"

"Dad?"

* * *

Soul laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, with warm feelings of boredom in his heart. Strange how such an inconsequential emotion was found to be pleasant to him. He had tried walking around town to get a response out of the Voice, but she remained less talkative since their battle with the pink and brown-haired woman. Thus, he ended up back in the hotel room, waiting until sunset before he could head over to see Athos.

Finally, time reached its desired point, indiated by the orange-tint from the window. Soul, seeing this, pulled himself up in order to sit on his bed.

"We should probably head over to the market again," Soul mumbled. He rubbed his hair, which had gone quiet astray since he laid down.

The Voice responded with a simple grunt, indicating that she heard him, but that she still wasn't too happy with Soul. So be it. Soul wasn't too happy himself since she never told him anything about her past. He was fine knowing that the feeling was mutual.

Again, he walked over to the table and grabbed his sweater and bag, as well as his scarf which he hid inside his left sleeve. Looking over his back once more to make sure he had what he needed, he opened the door and walked out.

* * *

The market was much calmer compared to this morning. More than half of the stalls were already closed, with the other half, typically the ones like Athos', starting to close themselves. There were only a select few customers left, and even the majority of those people were walking in the opposite direction of Soul.

Soul made his way to the back side of the market, where he saw Athos sweeping the area in front of his stall which had the closed sign up. Upon entering the area, the womanizer quickly looked up and tilted his head in acknowledgement with a small, awkward smile. Soul waved up.

"Had a good day?" Soul asked.

"Better than others. But it's for my family, so it's always a good day." Athos threw the dust in the trash and tossed his broom into the stall. "So, ready?"

Soul nodded. "What's a popular place here?"

"You'll see," Athos responded with a smile, "It's only a few minutes walk from here."

Following Athos, Soul found the two of them exiting the market and walking down the larger street that moved perpendicular to the road Athos's stall stood on. Soul's hotel was on this road, in fact, though it was in the opposite direction of where they were going. Down this side, the street gradually increased in cleanliness while the number of beggars decreased. It would have increased, had the police not cracked down on the issue in recent times.

Athos cleared his throat as they moved. "Anyways, what's happened with you since you got out of the hospital?"

"I went and got my hunter's license. It wasn't too difficult, honestly. Just a few physical tests, as well as a written one." This was the lie Soul always conjured up, and no one seemed to doubt him after he displayed his skills.

Athos nodded and took the bait, it seemed. "You really grew that fast?"

"Well, I got strong enough to fight you on even terms, remember?"

That made Athos chuckle a bit. "Yeah, I remember. Man, you were really weak back when school first started."

Soul grunted quietly. He hated himself, or rather Liu, for being so weak. Even if he did get much stronger by the time of the tournament, it did nothing for…

He shook his head. Better to focus on this small moment of enjoyment with an old friend rather than what had happened and what he was going to do.

Soul wanted to change the subject as fast as possible. "So, are you still training with the sword?"

"Yeah, but not as much as I would like. I have to spend most of my day working, after all," Athos said with a small sound of regret. Even if he worked for his family, Soul could guess he still wanted to work at his real dream. He wanted to say some words of relief to Athos, but he couldn't come up with any. He wanted to feel some sort of empathy, but nothing showed up in his heart.

Just… emptiness.

Soul clinched his fist. It was funny to him how he could feel anger at not being able to feel anger. It was random times like this where he noticed the shock from the Fall the most. This time he was going to have with Athos would feel empty. The food he would eat would be bland. The drink he would drink would taste lesser than water. Ever since the Fall, anything he did lacked any sort of real emotion, and every single bit of stimuli lacked any sort of push on him. With the exception of the smallest bits of time, his emotion was lost.

Well, except for guilt. But he'd learned to live with that.

"Let's just enjoy some food," he said to Athos.

* * *

They made it to the entrance of the restaurant, a popular chain in Mistral called Eagle's. Considering it was a Tuesday night, the crowd was relatively smaller than usual, and there would not be much of a wait for a table.

"You want me to pay, Athos?" Soul asked, considering the financial position his acquaintance was in.

Athos shook his head. "Don't worry, I can pay my own way."

Before they could walk in, though, Athos' scroll started ringing. After taking it out of his pocket, he frowned. "Hey, Liu, could you get a table for us? I'll be inside in a bit."

He nodded. "Gotcha." With a reflected nod, Athos walked a few paces away and answered the call, leaving Soul to go inside.

The inside was the definition of a chain restaurant: Several sets of rooms with booths on the sides and tables in the middle, though there was never a table enclosed by others. The lighting was slightly dim, and the faint sound of popular music was playing on the stereo. Soul assumed there was even a bar for those who could drink.

He entered to the sight of a waitress standing at the center of a wooden, circular booth. Upon sight of Soul, she smiled, "Welcome to Eagle's! Table for one?"

"Two," he replied. She simply nodded back, took two menus, exited her booth with a strange grace, and waved for Soul to follow her. She was leading him down towards the room of the left of the entrance, where, as expected, the bar was inside.

Once the pair entered, however, Soul caught the corner of his eyes on something, or rather someone. His paranoid brain was used to creating familiar people in his peripherals to scare him, only for them to disappear once he moved his focus. As usual, he suspected this would occur, so he turned towards the being, expecting it to vanish in an instant.

It didn't. Or rather, he didn't.

Soul froze. It was as if the hustle and bustle of the restaurant went silent, and his field of vision became narrower and narrower. Anyone who did appear in his vision was completely quiet and frozen. The only thing that accompanied the silence was the cold sweat on his palms. His eyes focused on one person. The one he didn't want seeing what Soul had become.

His father.

Kang turned around and smiled. "Liu! I'm glad I finally found you!"

"Dad?"

His father rushed up and gave Soul a big bear hug, nearly crushing him. To Soul, though, the hug also felt… warm. Too warm for what he was. He quickly pushed his father away before the confidence in his path was lost.

Kang gave a strange look after being shoved away. "Liu, what's going on? What are you doing? Why… why are your eyes blue?"

Soul looked away. "What do you mean?"

"What, you think I haven't followed your shenanigans since you escaped from the hospital? Going by the name of Soul while you attack bandits? What's gotten into you? Why are you doing this stuff?"

Soul took a deep breath. "I've given up the name of Liu."

"What? Liu, what are you-"

"Stop asking me all these questions!" Suddenly, the room went silent with his outburst, and all eyes fell on them. Kang looked around and gave a smile and a wave.

After gradually losing the crowd's attention, Kang turned back towards Liu. "Follow me upstairs."

* * *

Soul found himself unable to leave. Perhaps it was the insignificant desire in his heart to see his dad again, or the inability to find an escape after Kang's bodyguards blocked the exit, but he complied. Soon, the two were sitting in a waiting room with two chairs, perhaps where the office of the restaurant owner was. Soul would be worried for Athos, but knew that he was most likely a part of this encounter.

Once the door was closed, Kang turned towards his son with a serious expression. "I didn't raise you to raise your voice at me, nor did I raise you to kill. Yes, they are bandits, but they're also _people_, Liu. You can't-"

"You wanted to know why I'm calling myself Soul, and that's exactly why. Liu never had the strength to do anything. He was the weakest of his team, and ultimately that was the reason his friends died."

"You- you're not serious, are you, Liu?"

"I told you, I'm So-"

"You're also my son!"

Soul was shocked to see tears welling up in his father's eyes. The man who was seen as the strongest in Mistral, crying. It made Liu turn away once more.

Still, Kang continued. "You are my son, and it pains me so much to see this path of… self-destruction you've put yourself on."

Liu grabbed his left arm with his right hand. It was as if all the confidence he had in what he was doing was gone. Suddenly, the Voice's objections to what he's done made sense, and guilt seeped into his heart. "Sorry…"

Kang crossed his arms before sighing. "We're going to go home. You've worried the rest of the family as well. I doubt what you've done will allow you to gain an authentic hunter's license, but... I won't let you go to jail. Be thankful about that."

Liu nodded. The voice unexpectedly showed up in his head. _Don't you see? We can't keep doing this, So- no, Liu. Liu, we have to return to your home with your father._

"What about you?" Liu muttered.

"What was that?" Kang asked, thinking the question was for him.

"Nothing."

_We'll figure out something. For now, I'm worried about you, and so is your father. Please, Liu, stop going down this path._

Liu nodded, and looked at his father. "I think I'm ready to-"

As soon as his mind once more turned towards returning home, he felt something stop it. Chains. The chains that gripped onto his back so strongly. The chains that demanded justice for unfair deaths. Orphiucha, whose death robbed her mother of several more years with her greatest love. Ursus, whose death left guilt in the hearts of hundreds at his old school, who had come to realize there was more to him than just his scary looks. Sagitari, whose incapacitation ripped out Liu's heart like a wolf. But that was just the beginning: Uncle Cam, Penny, Pyrrha, and the several other students, faculty, and innocent bystanders who were shot by the White Fang or clawed to death by the grimm. So many demanded retribution.

And like that, Liu became Soul once more.

Soul frowned and shook his head. "No, I can't. There were so many deaths during the Fall of Beacon. Who will avenge those who died?"

Kang's eyes widened at that response. "Liu… you can't mean this entire time has been for something as dark as revenge?"

"It's justice. Orphiucha, Ursus, Sagitari… those three were robbed of a future."

"Sagitari is still alive, you know this!"

Soul walked up to his father's face. "She's alive because machines are keeping her alive! Dad, can't you see? This has to be done. Otherwise, I'll never be free."

Kang shook his head. "So, my guess was right. You're going around killing bandits, for the sake of those who died."

"Ye-"

"They're dead, Liu, and nothing you do will change that."

Soul clinched his fists and gritted his teeth. "This is the only thing I can do. Now please, Dad, let me leave."

He turned towards the door and started walking. The moment he moved his legs, though, he could feel his father's hand grab his shoulder. The deep voice of his father rumbled through his body. "No. I will not let you do this. Liu, I tried to reason with you, but I now know I can't do that."

Instantly, the feeling of a hand chop hit the back of his neck, and his vision started to fade away as his sense of touch disappeared. Quietly, he could make out his father say, "I'm going to have to take you home by force. Sorry, son."

Then, darkness engulfed everything.

* * *

The next thing Soul saw, or rather felt, was the soft carpet of a well-tended room. He quickly looked around, trying to find his bag and weapons, but both were gone. Similarly, he was missing his sweater, as well as his scarf. Instead, the only things that kept him company in his relatively large quarters were a bed, a bathroom, a few books, a chair, and a window. Once he gained his bearings, Soul waddled towards the window and looked out to the sight of clouds and floating, giant rocks in the air. He was in his father's airship, flying over Lake Matsu.

Soul could tell he wasn't in the brig - his room was far too clean and warm for that – but he could hardly guess anything else. Looking around to find no cameras, he spoke out loud. "Hey, are you there?"

_Yep_, the Voice spoke.

Soul sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. "What am I doing?"

_You tell me._

"I've gone around torturing and killing for information, all for the sake of avenging those who died. Is it so wrong to do this?"

The Voice cracked, and suddenly all of her bottled-up emotions came out. _Yes! Yes, it is! Soul, you should know that this will do nothing. You should know you'll come out far worse than when you went in. Please, Soul, listen to your father. Listen to me._

Soul waited, hoping to feel some sort of stir in his emotions like he had with his father. He wanted to feel something, in fact. He wanted to feel anger, sadness, or happiness once more. He wanted to be feel stirred and pushed away from what he was doing. He wanted to have the emotional strength to apologize to his friends and move on with his life, away from hunting their murderers.

But nope.

Nothing revealed itself. He still felt empty with the constant weight of guilt. He chuckled a bit in amazement. "You know, I thought that was going to finally convince me, but I don't feel anything."

The Voice said nothing. It was like she wanted nothing to do with Soul, but her inability to leave his body forced her otherwise, so she could only turn to silence. He felt regretful that their relationship had turned so sour, but he could do nothing. If his burden caused this issue, so be it.

Ignoring that, Soul closed his eyes and moved his semblance towards his brain. He pushed it towards the first imaginary barrier, where only his five senses increased in strength. Then, he went even further, into the second barrier, where he gained his sixth, electromagnetic sense. He felt a set of soldiers eating together. He felt Uncle Sagino waiting at the front of his room. He felt his father looking over a map of Mistral.

_Look out,_ he could somehow make out Kang saying, _A ship was attacked by grimm in this area recently. Apparently, they've sent hunters to this area, but you can never be too careful._

Soul kept scanning through the airship. Being on an airship made out of metal itself really made searching it a rough job. Humans were one thing, but metal was another. There was too much interference when it came to looking for other metallic objects. Eventually, though, he found it: a large grouping of metals that fit his weapons' shapes and sizes, only a few rooms away.

With his goal found, he knew he couldn't sit here anymore. Soul needed to get his weapons and get out. He immediately hatched a plan; he just had to complete it.

"Time for a prison break."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey there! Thanks for giving this story a read. If you like it, be sure to give it a follow, a favorite, a review, or just keep reading these dang ol' chapters! I'm very excited, actually. These next few pairs of chapters are what I've been excited to write since I started this fan fiction. Also... I don't know what else to write. Usually, i just write what comes up on the spot, but I can't think of anything, so... uh, bye and God bless!)


	27. Chapter 27: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 27: Before – The Woods

It had only been an hour since the airship landed in a large clearing, dropping the seven off. Now, the group was walking down a path, led by Kang and his body guards, then followed by Sagitari, Liu, and Ursus, and finally ended with Orphiucha in the back. No matter who tried to come back with her or how long they stood, she simply gave them a pained glare and stood her ground, waiting until the person who tried to approach her gave up and moved on.

"This is bad. This is so bad," Sagitari muttered constantly. Liu was stunned to find just how much more emotion she could experience beyond joy. Before, he saw her true anger when Ursus was accused by Freddie for being a monster. Now, he was seeing either sadness, panic, or depression from her. It made him worry, needless to say.

"Sagitari," Liu said quietly, so as to not get Orphiucha's attention, "Who is Agustus? Can you tell me anything about him?"

Sagitari looked up and quickly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Liu. I'm really sorry, but I can't say anything. Me and Orph, we made a promise."

"A promise?"

"I won't say anything beyond that."

Liu paused for a second, but nodded. "Don't worry. My dad just said one name. I'm sure after a few days, this will all blow over."

Sagitari nodded back, but still looked unconfident. This new woman, the one who revealed itself to be Sagitari, frightened Liu. Where was his team leader? Who was taking over for her? This woman wasn't the same cheerful Sagitari. She was-

Directly in front of the group, a wolf grimm pack jumped out of the bushes. Their eyes glared with the same deep, unknown hatred all of grimm had for humanity. They spread out in order to make the area they held seem bigger. Kang simply chuckled at the sight. "I guess I ought to show you all my full strength."

With that, he took his claymore off his back and closed his eyes. Slowly, he raised his sword in the hair. Some of the grimm tried to move forward, but the second they took a step, they were stopped by some unknown pressure from Kang. Almost immediately, dark clouds in the sky started to form, and in only ten seconds, the sound of thunder slowly rumbled in the sky.

"Get ready!" Then, lightning came down. The lightning struck directly onto Kang's sword and caused the sword to glow a yellow gleam, like when he fought Orphiucha. The grimm had a small bit of hesitancy in seeing this, but the supposed leader of the pack jumped forward, unwilling to be intimidated by a human.

Finally, Kang opened his eyes and swung. The energy that came from his sword burst waves of lightning in front of them all and encompassed every single wolf grimm. The five or six that dared attack them disintegrated as the lightning wave continued into the woods, leaving wild burn marks throughout the ground, trees, and rocks.

The general then turned back to the four, their mouths agape. "So," he said with a smile, "Ready to set up camp?"

* * *

"Hey, can we talk for a bit?" Ursus asked from behind Liu, who accidentally broke his tent from the surprise.

"Geez, you scared the living daylights out of me!" Liu responded.

"Sorry…"

"No, it's fine. What was it you wanted to talk about?"

Ursus looked in the direction of Sagitari and Orphiucha. Orphiucha had already finished her tent and was resting inside while Sagitari still struggled greatly at crafting her own. "I'm worried about those two. They've been hiding stuff from us since the beginning. First I was a little annoyed by it, but seeing how they reacted… I'm worried about figuring out more."

Liu shrugged, but kept a reassuring face. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure when they want to tell us, they'll tell us."

"I know… but what about your dad?" Ursus was worried about his father saying more, Liu could tell.

"Don't worry about my dad. He may be loud, but he's one of the smartest people I know. He's probably caught on and won't pry any further. Once this time is over, I'm positive our team will go back to normal."

Ursus, just like Sagitari, lacked confidence, but nodded. Liu had to wonder why he was the one who was reassuring the others. The small bit of pride was extinguished when he shook his head, however. He could think about that after he set his tent up.

If he set it up.

* * *

Just after his tent was finished on top of a pond of sweat, Liu heard the call from his father. "Alright, everyone, form up!"

At that sound, Liu, in a sweaty stupor, came up, followed by Ursus, who had finished his tent a few minutes before, then Sagitari, whose tent was still a pile of cloth on the ground, and finally Orphiucha. Orphiucha came up to Liu's right side, which gave him a chance to talk.

"How are you doing?" Liu asked. Since the dance, she had been far easier to talk to, so he gave it a shot.

"I'm fine," she promptly replied, though there was no sense of resentment or anger in her voice.

"Good," he said.

Orphiucha opened her mouth as if she was going to say something more, but stopped and gradually looked forward where Kang and his body-guards were walking from. All Liu could read were her viper eyes, which had a strange sort of anticipation.

"Alright," Kang spoke from his gut as he got Liu's attention, "Let me say what I said before we left: While we will be doing the assignment Beacon gave to us, I brought you all out here from a secondary reason: training. Yes, Ursus?"

"Sir," Ursus asked with a raised hand, "I'm glad to hear this that, but won't we get in trouble? After all, we are just first-years, and the majority of the first-year assignments don't even involve fighting."

"If you're worried about that, don't be. I've already received permission from Ozpin. After I told him I wanted to give my son and his friends a few pointers in battle, he gave the thumbs-up without any hesitation."

"That being said, this is how our days will go: We wake up, exercise, train, do our mission, come back, then train and exercise once more. Each training session will consist of the four of you paired with the three of us. Yes, Sagitari?"

She put her hand down. "Sir, you just said there are three of you and four of us. How will we be paired?"

Kang smiled back. "There will be one of us who will be training two at the same time based on a common weakness. That being said, I've paired you all based on what strengths and weaknesses you have with your fighting styles. For example, Sagitari, you're all-round very strong, fast, and smart when it comes to fighting. However, you're too quick to use your semblance at its full-power, which gives your enemies the ability to estimate your potential. Another issue you have is strategy, ironically."

"Strategy?" Liu asked. Sagitari was one of the smartest when it came to that.

Kang nodded. "Sagitari is a genius at figuring out semblances and strengths of her opponents, I will agree, but when her enemy does something she doesn't expect, she struggles getting back into the rhythm of the battle. Remember when I put away my sword?"

Sagitari nodded. "I understand, sir, and I will train hard to overcome it!"

"Good! In order to work on this, then, you'll be paired with me."

Sagitari was practically dancing in her mind, Liu assumed. However, that made him blush a bit. Does that mean they'll train together? After all, his father wouldn't pass up the chance to train with his son, right?

Kang continued by moving over to Ursus. "Now, Ursus, you are physically the strongest of this group, but you have trouble relying on that. During the fight, and from what I've seen in your other fights, you rely a lot on your weapon's long-ranged form. It isn't bad, but when you rely too much on that chain, it becomes a weakness. Someone could break it, leaving you with an empty husk of a staff. Maybe you could keep using it in battle, but only against a person. Against a grimm, though? That's their queue to eat you alive." Ursus constantly nodded at this, his face deep in thought.

"Thus, you'll be training alongside Sagino here. He's the strongest of us three in terms of muscles and will show you some good close-ranged techniques in battle."

Ursus nodded, and Kang continued over to Liu. "So… my son's in training to become a hunter, huh? It still shocks me to this day."

"Dad…" Liu looked around in embarrassment.

"Don't worry! I won't mince words. Honestly, your ability to adapt seems to be your strength. You've grown far more at Beacon than anything I've ever seen from you. If there's something I'd like to see more of from you, though, it would be your semblance. You've hardly unlocked its full potential. So, you'll be training with Uncle Cam here. He's the best of us when it comes to semblance and technique."

"Err… okay," Liu muttered. He thought he'd be training with his dad during this time.

Seeing his son's surprise made him laugh. "Sorry, Liu, but I can't help you much in that area of fighting. Cam is far more suited for the job."

Liu hesitantly nodded. So be it.

That finally left Orphiucha, who stood patiently, and uncharacteristically, on the side. Kang turned towards her. "Now Orphiucha, I actually think your fighting style is very good! Had you not used dust lightning on me, the fight would have gone on for far longer. You use both close and far-ranged attacks equally and you try to not give your opponent a chance to attack. That being said… you do have a semblance, don't you?"

The awkward mood returned as Orphiucha turned her eyes away from Kang. "I won't pry into your past and I'm sorry for having brought it up back at Beacon, but your semblance is one of the most important weapons a hunter can have. If you do care for your teammates, you'd do best to remember that."

"Thus, you will work alongside Liu with Cam. If you won't use your semblance, you three will still do general training. Team dismissed until tomorrow. Take a break for the rest of the day."

Orphiucha made no movements, she only kept her head to the ground. Even as Kang dismissed the group, she stood there. Even as the sun started to come down, she stood there.

* * *

Even when Liu woke up in the night, she was outside. Perhaps she did return to her tent, but worries kept her up, Liu guessed. He peeked out of his tent, and feeling the somewhat chilly night weather, came out with his scarf around his neck. While it was made of metal, it still somehow managed to retain the same sort of warmth that came with cotton scarfs.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked as he walked up to Orphiucha. The girl continued to look up at the sky, where hundreds of stars revealed themselves over the rural land side. Liu felt a little awkward when she didn't respond at all, but he kept standing there nonetheless. It just felt right to him.

It took probably a minute or two before Orphiucha said anything, her voice cracking from the extended silence. "Liu," she muttered, "Why can't we ever escape the shadows of those around us?"

Liu tiled his head and said nothing, which let her continue. "I've tried to remove everything about my father from my life. Years of gifts I've thrown out. Cards from my early birthdays I've burnt. Liu, I haven't seen a picture of him for so long that I don't even remember what he looks like. And yet… why does he still show up in my life? Why does your dad know my father? Why does my mother wait every day for him to show up? Why can't I… I…"

Liu had no idea what to do, so he threw his scarf on her head. "Here, it's chilly."

The gesture stopped Orphiucha from talking, and her eyes widened while she looked up at Liu. He was worried she might cry, yell at him, or grab his shoulders in an embrace, the latter of which he wouldn't mind… Liu shook his head. This was his friend! He had to support her in-

Orphiucha started laughing to herself as she pulled off the scarf. "What do you think you are, a protagonist in a drama or something? What's with that smooth move that you only see on TV?"

Liu blushed at her jest. "H-hey, I didn't know what else I was supposed to do!"

Orphiucha slowed down her laugh, but kept a genuine smile. Liu started seeing that more often, and seeing that made him smile as well. He continued, "Look, Orphiucha, I don't have the answers to your questions. I know what it's like living under a shadow, but I can't help you with anything beyond that. But, here's one thing I can assure you: You're my friend, so I'll try support you in any way. Got that?"

Orphiucha blushed a bit, but nodded. She replied, "I… I know that Sagitari and I have been a little quiet about our pasts. I'm sorry about that."

She kicked at a rock on the ground. "You see… remember how I thought of humans when we were first at Beacon?"

Liu nodded. "I thought you were about to beat me up when we first met!" Reminiscing on the past made Liu realize how far he and his team had come. He was such a scaredy-cat during those first few days, and even considered leaving Beacon multiple times. Now, he was a vital part of the team. The same thing occurred with Orphiucha. At the start, she was cold and stand-offish. Now, while she does keep that same bitter sarcasm that makes her Orphiucha, the cold feelings from her have almost completely disappeared.

She nodded. "I think… I'm okay with telling you the truth, or at least some of it.

She took a deep breath, then turned towards Liu. "I'm not a full-blooded faunus. My father's name is Agustus Edelweiss, a human from Atlus. He's the reason I dislike humans."

"Human?! Orphiucha, you're part human?"

"Yes, though my mother's faunus genetics came out as dominant. And…" She stopped and Liu could see the pain in her eyes resurface once more.

"Did… Did he hurt you and your mother?"

Her eyes widened. "No! Not at all! My early memories of him were great. He was a loving father… that was, until…" The pain returned.

Liu sighed. "Don't worry, Orph. You don't have to tell me everything now. Just promise me tomorrow that you'll start trying to practice with your semblance."

Orphiucha nodded and passed back the scarf. "Thanks, Liu, but I don't think I can do that yet. My semblance is from my father, too."

The pain was that deep, Liu thought to himself. So be it, she had to think through it herself.

"Then, let's go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Gotcha… and thanks. I'll be out here a little longer," Orphiucha said. With a nod, Liu walked back to his tent. Yet, he couldn't have gone halfway before looking back at Orph. The breeze pushed through the clearing and gently moved her silver hair as her snake eyes pierced the sky, towards the large, broken moon. Maybe it was all a part of this scene, but Liu found himself enamored by her. Orphiucha was beautiful, he realized.

Then, he slapped his face in order to regain composure. "I have a lot of feelings to work out, don't I?" he muttered to himself while slipping back into his tent.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey, what is up, y'all? Here's where I write my usual stuff: If you like, be sure to favorite, follow, or review. I'm also excited for what is going to happen in this story coming a few more chapters, so keep on reading! Anyways, here's some real talk: It's really hard to find some music to listen to while I write. Typically, I have a set amount of songs I'll play, but then I easily get bored of them. I'm thinking I'll probably start a future funk playlist for myself, considering I don't listen to it as much. It'll be good to diversify my music anyways. Anyways, have a good night and God bless!)


	28. Chapter 28: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 28: After – Prison Break

_Nothing has worked out. I've waited and watched for months, trying to help Liu and saying I'll always take his side, but all he's done is gone further down a path of destruction, both towards himself and towards others._

_ I can only hope the same tragedy as before won't replay. I don't have the heart for that._

* * *

"General Kang," Josephine said, "Sagino is currently guarding Liu's quarters. Are you sure I should be aiding him as well and leave you unguarded?"

Kang tapped his foot. "Josephine, we're hundreds of feet in the air in an airship with at least fifty troops besides you and Sagino. What assassin could get me now? Besides, the greatest danger on this ship is Liu himself."

"Your son?"

Kang nodded. "That kid's strength has grown at an insane rate. Along that, reports say he's somehow gained a second semblance. Either that, or his original semblance allows him to heal injuries on the spot."

"A second semblance? How?"

"I don't know, but there's something that's happened to him that made him stronger beyond just simple training. It's best to be careful."

Josephine froze for a second, but bowed and walked out, leaving Kang alone to his thoughts. Specifically, about how he was going to explain Liu's current situation to the family.

How do you go about telling your wife that her son is a murderer?

* * *

Sagino heard the knock of the door behind him accompanying a muffled "Sagino?" However, he was under orders to never open the door, even if Liu was unarmed.

Again, he heard the knock. "Sagino," Liu's voice behind the door said, "I'm really thirsty. Could I get some water?"

Sagino tried to stay his ground, and it proved strong enough for ten seconds, but it was his pseudo-nephew. It felt wrong to treat him like this. With a sigh, Sagino turned around and took the canteen out of his pocket. "Stay a few steps back," he said, "I'm coming in."

Sagino took a few glances around, then unlocked the door. It was risky, but Sagino had trained for years to deal with things like this. He walked into the door to find the remnants of Liu standing there. His black hair, grown beyond belief and almost touching his back. His body, far muscular than the same Liu just a year ago. And most disturbingly, his new, blue eyes that looked as if they came from someone else. It was Liu, Sagino had to keep reminding himself. The same Liu he watched grow him. The same Liu that got accepted to Beacon. It was Liu, even if it called itself Soul.

Sagino pulled out his canteen and handed it over to Liu. He quickly grabbed the canteen and started drinking as if he hadn't had anything in a few days.

"You like as if you've been in the desert," Sagino said.

Liu nodded and stopped to take a break from drinking. He wiped the remaining water droplets off his mouth. "I haven't had a drink for a while, and you guys forgot to put some in here!"

"Sorry, kid, but it was your dad's orders. He was probably worried you'd use it as a weapon."

"I can't use a weapon like that. My semblance can't do that."

He then handed it back to Sagino, whose guard slowly fell down as he saw the original Liu show himself. That was until he gripped onto Sagino's arm.

"My semblance can do this, though."

* * *

Soul released his semblance into Sagino's body, shocking him violently. He couldn't stop the man's screams from reaching the halls even with a closed door, but it would have to do in order for him to escape. All he had to do was shock him into unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, this was Sagino.

Still screaming, Sagino grabbed Soul's arm with his other hand and pulled it off with his crazy strength.

Through fast breathing, he muttered, "Is that all you've got?"

Soul could hardly fight his grip, and eventually, Sagino threw him into the side of the room. Pain spread throughout his back as he fell onto the ground. Luckily, the Voice's semblance took that pain away in a fraction of a second, and he was able to get back up and look towards Sagino.

"So it's true," Sagino grumbled, "You've somehow got another semblance in that body of yours. That's not possible."

Soul popped his neck. "It can do more than heal. Watch this!"

Immediately, Sagino got into a defensive stance as Soul charged towards him, just like he wanted. He held his hand in a fist, coming closer and closer towards his father's bodyguard. Just before reaching him, however, Soul jumped into the air and flipped over the top of Sagino, behind where the door was. Not intending to get caught, he immediately dashed forward out into the hall, and closed the door, where the security system automatically locked the door.

Loud thumping came from the room. "Hey!" Sagino yelled from inside, "Hey! Let me out!"

"Sorry Uncle Sagino, but I have to get out of here," Liu whispered, more for himself than for the one he trapped. He activated his semblance once more, double-checking both his location and the location of his weapons. Closing his eyes, he focused in on the whole airship until he found what he was looking for. Then, he felt the presence of five soldiers coming towards him.

Soul opened his eyes and saw the group of Mistral guards stopping dead in their tracks. Perhaps it was because of Soul's track record so far, or the fact he was Kang's son, but the five seemed hesitant to attack.

"I guess I'll come to you, then."

Soul had little time. He sprinted forward down the narrow hall, where the five were. He made his way to the closest one, who tried to block the incoming attack by covering his face. Soul instead threw a punch under his guard and directly into his gut, making the soldier fall. He then grabbed the fallen soldier by the back of the neck and threw him into the others. Not wanting to wait for the chaos to end, Soul dashed through the group. He was so close, with the room he needed in sight. He pushed his body even further, reaching out towards the door handle. Just a few more steps, and-

A flying dagger found its way into Soul's arm, and pinned it against the wall despite the short length. Soul yelped a bit in pain and struggled to pull the dagger off, but to no avail.

"They said you could heal fast," a new voice said from behind Soul, "So I don't think General Kang would be too angry of me to stab you."

Unexpectedly, a woman came around. "You're making a lot of trouble for me, you know. I should be doing nothing, just like a real body-guard would. Instead, I was forced to g on a wild goose chase across the world. Got anything to say to that?"

Soul didn't care. He just had to get out. "You shouldn't use something as short as daggers," he muttered. Then, Soul pushed his arm against the aim of the dagger. The woman's eyes widened and even got a little sickly as he pushed his entire arm through the dagger, breaking it free in a bloody mess. Not wanting him to escape, the woman snapped her fingers and the dagger returned to her hand as she came forward. Soul could barely dodge as he held his damaged arm in his other hand.

The woman was strong, but he couldn't give up yet. Soul dodged under a slash from her, then kicked her a few meters away. Even angrier and seemingly undamaged, the woman held her hand up and snapped, signaling for three daggers to come out from her back and fly forward. Soul barely had enough time to open the door on the weapons, causing them to deeply embed in the steel which he used as he escape.

Soul had little time. He jumped into the room and closed the door, then grabbed a random weapon and jammed it into the door handle. He could hear a muffled snap, followed by the daggers returning back into the hallway. "Not good," he muttered, "Where are they?"

The room was filled to the brim with weapons. It was good news, then, for him to find his two swords, scarf, and sweater still in a bag in the middle of the room. He unfurled his sweater and put it on, then his armor, followed by his scarf in his sleeves, and finally his two swords on his hips. That was better, he thought. "Now to escape."

Without any signal, the door was blasted open from its hinges, and two figures stood there: Sagino and the woman. Sagino was looking rather peeved.

"You'd do best to go back to the quarters, Liu," Sagino grumbled with a red face. He was carrying his giant, man-sized sword.

Soul said nothing and put his hand on his hilt. Then, using his other arm, he shot his scarf out, wrapping around Sagino's sword and pulling. Sagino barely moved and his immense physical strength made Soul launch forward. This was expected. Soul pulled his swords out of their sheathes and slashed downwards on Sagino's swords. The force behind his attack actually made Sagino step backwards, but not even Soul expected the man to break his guard. Instead, Soul aimed his body upwards and pushed against Sagino's blade, launching him again onto the ceiling of the hallway. With one more push off the top of the room, Soul just barely dodged a flying dagger, and landed past the two.

He was in the homestretch. Soul sprinted as fast as he could down the hall while flying daggers came all around him. Doors lined down the wall moved like a blur as he ran. He ran faster and faster. The hall seemed like it went on forever. He managed to keep dodging the daggers, even throwing some back every now and then, but he felt his luck was about to change as he grew tired.

Finally, however, the hallway came to an end when it reached one large door. With nowhere else to go and two powerful fighters on his tail, Soul broke into the door, revealing the largest cargo room of the airship. There were crates on top of crates, all tied down for stability. The center of the room, however, was empty, and the end of the room was slanted upwards, which Liu assumed was the ramp that could open and close.

He had no more options. This was a dead end.

Soul turned back around as not just Sagino and the woman showed up, but so did a large group of soldiers.

"Come on, Liu, you don't want to fight anymore. You can't fight anymore," Sagino spoke.

Soul walked backwards with his left sword forward until he touched the slanted end of the room.

Then, Kang came in, his claymore on his back and a concerned look on his face. "Liu, please. Please come back home."

Soul sighed, but finally sheathed his blades. "I'm so sorry, dad. Really, I hate what I'm doing to you and Mom."

Soul then slammed his hand on the slanted edge of the room. "I'm sorry, but I have to go."

Upon touching the metal ramp, Soul pushed his semblance inside of it. Now, any sort of electric power on the ramp was redirected, and he was in complete control of it. With a pull, the slanted end of the room started opening.

"Get out!" Kang yelled to the soldiers. No one was disobedient. Everyone, save for him and his body-guards, left the room and shut the door.

Still, the air pressure from the opened ramp kept the three in place, and gave Soul a chance to walk towards the edge of it. He looked down and saw the hundreds of floating rocks that littered the skies of Lake Matsu. Below was the water, far too low for him to land in. Instead, Soul looked around and saw one giant rock that was close enough to the airship for him to safely land.

"Liu," his father said again with an open hand, "Please."

He turned back around and looked. His father, even in this time and all that Soul had done, still wanted him to return. His father really was too good.

Too good for him. Soul would spread the stains on his hands if he were to return home.

Soul shook his head. "I'm sorry."

Taking a deep breath, Soul jumped off the airship and started his long descent onto the floating rocks.

* * *

Kang froze as he saw his son jump out of the ship. He pulled himself back together, though, and ran to the opening, where he looked down. Liu was trying to land on the rocks over Lake Matsu. There was still a chance. But Liu had managed to break free from the airship. Even with his two body-guards keeping watch, Liu escaped. There could only be one way to get him back permanently, then.

Complete and utter defeat.

"Hey," he yelled to Sagino, "The reports said he could heal fast, right?"

"I saw so myself!"

Kang nodded and took the claymore off his back. "Tell the pilot to fly as far and as fast as they can from the lake. Keep circling around, and when the storm clouds disappear, come to the largest floating rock he can fiind.

"But general," Josephine tried to correct, "There aren't any storm clouds."

"There will be." And with that, Kang jumped off the airship, claymore in hand.

* * *

Soul kept grabbing the smaller rocks with his scarf and pulled slightly to help slow his descent down. Eventually, however, the ground of the larger rock, almost identifiable as a floating island, grew and before he knew it, Soul made physical contact with it. He retracted the scarf back into his sleeve and looked around.

"Now, how do I get down?" he mumbled to himself. He walked towards the edge of the cliff, and saw more floating islands down below. He could just keep swinging from rock to rock, until he eventually made it to the water. After that, getting out of the lake was his next problem.

Soul felt the small touch of water on the back of his hand. Strange, considering how high up he was on such a sunny day. Then he felt another. And another. Soul looked up for the source to find dark clouds starting to form in the sky.

"Oh no."

At the other side of the small island, a heavy force landed, causing the entire rock to shake a bit and spread dust around. Soul didn't have enough time to cover his mouth, and tried to cough out the dust that got into his lungs. With watery eyes, he looked up towards the source of the crash land. He didn't realize, though, that the crash land would come towards him.

Soul barely had enough time to get out of the way of a two-handed sword, and got a small cut on his cheek. He jumped back, pulled his two swords out, and got in a defensive position. In that time, the cut had healed.

"So, the reports are true. Your healing rate is lighting fast."

The dust subsided, and Soul saw who it was. Kang Xiu. His father had followed him down to the rocks, and was wielding his powerful Wind's Thunder blade. Soul tightened his grip on his swords. This was going to be the hardest fight he'd ever face.

"Luckily, that gives me the chance to attack without holding back. I'm sorry, Liu, but I'm going to have to beat you into unconsciousness."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Like, Comment, and Sub- That's the wrong website! I mean, please follow, favorite, or review if you enjoy this story! Thanks so much for taking the time to read it! I'm legit excited for the next chapter in the after story. It's a fight I've been imagining since the start of writing this fan fiction. So be sure to read it... if you like these after chapters, haha. Anyways, see you and God bless!)


	29. Chapter 29: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 29: Before – Orphiucha

Liu and the three others waited, as they had done these past few days, in the clearing for Kang to wake up. Cam and Sagino were standing around as well, making their usual bets on when Kang would wake up.

"Your dad really likes to sleep in, doesn't he?" Ursus said.

"It's new to me, too," Liu replied.

As the agenda said, they started their mornings with exercises. Rigorous exercises. As in, exercises that dwarfed anything Sagitari could craft. Liu was worried these kind of exercises would give her ideas when they got back. Thankfully, his body was already tempered well enough so that he could move during both his training sessions with Cam and their team assignment. It just hurt a lot.

With a rustle, Kang jumped out of his tent and ran out to meet them. "Wow, sorry guys! I did it again!"

The four listened attentively, not trying to say anything against his way of leading the group. Behind Kang, a disgruntled Cam was passing money over to Sagino.

Not stopping, Kang continued. "Well thankfully we have a few hours before we need to head to our assigned location, so let's split into our pairs and train. Sagitari with me, Ursus with Sagino, and Orphiucha and Liu with Cam. Team dismissed."

With that, Liu walked up to Cam, followed by Orphiucha.

"Oh," Cam said, "Liu, good timing. You wouldn't happen to have a few Lien on you, would you?"

Liu shook his head. "Uncle Cam, you and Sagino are still betting?"

Cam grunted. "Sagino has been having a winning streak as of late. I've been running out of cash on hand, and we don't have a bank nearby, so I can't get any more."

Liu quickly changed the subject. "Anyways, uncle, what are we doing today?"

These past few days of training weren't a waste, to be fair. The majority of it consisted of Liu figuring out the secrets of his semblance. So far, Cam figured out that his semblance gave him the ability to utilize and amplify his own bio-electromagnetic field. That explained why Liu fainted the instant he used it in a gun during the practice sparring at school. Cam explained that it was dangerous to put his semblance inside of anything that would leave his touch at a fast speed, but his scarf was a great conductor. There were so many other things Cam explained his semblance could do, which he had only slightly touched before, but since the start Cam just wanted him to work on his scarf.

Cam replied, "Let me see how your scarf usage is coming along."

Liu nodded and took the scarf off his neck. Holding one end, he then moved the semblance into his scarf, careful not to let the electricity move on its own. When both parts touched, however, he completely stopped any sort of electrical movement inside of the scarf, making it remain limp even though it was charged.

"Good," Cam continued, "You've completely mastered stopping its movement. Now can you make it move slowly?"

Liu tried to move the electricity, but the instant he did that, the scarf tried to start flapping again. Luckily, Cam and Orphiucha could dodge it before he absorbed back the electricity. "Sorry, I still can't make it move."

Cam rubbed his chin. "I think your issue is that you think it works like it would an arm. But the only way you can move it is by moving your semblance, which doesn't function at all like a limb. Didn't you say your muscles do the same when you put your semblance into it?"

"Yeah, my muscles just involuntarily flex or move around."

"Then my hypothesis is correct. You shouldn't imagine it like you can control it directly. You semblance can only be controlled the way you control a semblance, not an arm."

Liu tilted his head. He still didn't quite understand. However, Cam didn't have time to help him more. He turned over to Orphiucha. "Are you ready to spar, Orphiucha?"

Orphiucha confirmed, "Yes, sir."

Since the night she and Liu talked, Orphiucha still would not use her semblance. There were moments, after talking with Cam, where she would try, but suddenly, she would put her hand down and get back to fighting with her batons. So instead she and Cam determined that it would be better to spar and build on her strengths.

Since then, as well, Liu had grown extraordinarily curious of her, and worried for her. The girl lost her sarcastic edge, but it felt wrong, like she was forcing herself to do it. She rarely talked, even to Sagitari, and she ate little. All she did was follow what she was told to do by Cam and Kang. He hoped that their talk that night didn't trigger any of this to occur.

"Alright," Cam continued, "Liu, you work with your semblance while I first spar with Orphiucha. Once we finish, then you can join in and spar with me."

Cam put a can on top of a portable crate. "Work on both grabbing this with your scarf, as well as injecting your muscles with your bio-electricity for today. Remember, your semblance isn't another appendage. Understand?"

"Yes, sir," Liu nodded.

"Good." Satisfied, Cam walked with Orphiucha about fifteen feet over to prepare for their spar, leaving Liu to focus on his goal. Again, he put his semblance into his scarf. He tried to move it, and like before, the thing flapped like crazy. This always seemed to occur. What was he doing wrong?

Liu thought back to the fight in the warehouse. Indeed, he did manage to make the mech move, but there were only a few joints and metal parts he had to move. The scarf had hundreds of those in miniature form. But, did he move the mech like it was another part of his body? Soul remembered when he first made it move on accident. He pulled on his semblance and the thing walked. He pushed and it moved its hands. It wasn't at all like how he'd move his body. Instead, it was all the movement of the semblance.

Liu closed his eyes and pictured the electricity inside of the scarf. It was all frozen, waiting for orders from Liu. The instant he tried to move it like an arm, however, it shook itself around. Instead, he kept his focus on the electricity inside. He pushed a little bit on the semblance, expanding it inside of the scarf.

Liu opened his eyes to find the scarf strangely widened. He was onto something.

Liu pulled and tightened the semblance inside of the scarf. The scarf became thinner.

"Just maybe…" Liu turned towards the can on the crate. With the semblance in his scarf still, he tried something new. This time, alongside a thrust of his arm, he summoned the electricity inside the scarf to both tighten and push forward towards the other end of the scarf. The scarf followed through, expanding at a blindingly fast rate forward, as well as narrowing itself. The scarf just missed the can, though, and the distance from Liu seemed to shock the electricity to return back to his body. Just as the scarf went limp, Liu shivered when a large chunk of his semblance entered back into his body.

This time, though, Liu wanted to try the same thing with his muscles. In all the times past, Liu's body wouldn't listen to him when the bio-electricity absorbed itself into his muscles. He would end up freezing in place, shaking violently, or involuntarily striking things. But with this new process…

Liu absorbed some of the semblance into his left arm, which made it start flexing. However, he quickly did the same thing like the scarf and froze the semblance. Upon that action, his arm quit flexing and hung down, waiting for acting. He then pulled his semblance, and his arm shot up with impressive strength that he lacked before. He pushed, and the arm shot down. It was so strange controlling his body in a different way, but it seemed to give him much stronger power in this form. Liu tested a bit by grabbing a rock on the ground, then constricting the semblance in his bicep and tendons. His body followed suit, and his hand suddenly crushed the rock like it was clay.

Liu grinned. "I learned it, finally!"

He then released the semblance out of his muscle, which came with an unprecedented and dull pain in his bicep.

"It's probably best not to use that all the time," he groaned as he rubbed his arm.

* * *

With training ended (following an embarrassing spar on Liu's part), the seven were now on their way to their team assignment. The mission was described as simple grimm hunting, but from Liu's understanding it was far more complex than that.

Liu observed as his father crouched down near a tree. All of the trees in the area suffered the same sort of claw marks, so he took the chance to closely observe it.

"We're looking for a pack of grimm," Kang stated, "Beowolves by the like of it."

Sagitari raised her hand. "Sir, what's a beowolf?"

Liu's father chuckled as he stood up. "You've been in the academy for a while and you still don't know the type names of grimm?"

"Book-smarts aren't my strength," she said with a clueless smile.

"Beowolves are the wolf-looking faunus. They travel in groups and they're common to this area. The only other option could be Ursa's, but those grimm commonly travel alone or in pairs."

"Ursa?"

"Bear grimm," Ursus interrupted. "That was a common nickname for me back in my old school."

"Sorry," Liu muttered. He often forgot that Ursus was isolated for so long.

Kang followed some tracks in the ground. "They frequent this area. Some of these tracks, despite being the same, are old, while others are new. I count maybe… fifteen beowolves."

He finally pointed towards a cliff in the distance. "I predict their nest is over there. All of you, get ready. I know we've been training all of you to work on your weaknesses, but only fight as comfortably as you can. If you aren't confident in a new technique you've learned, don't use it."

Liu wrapped his scarf around his arm and filled it with his semblance. This was the most of his semblance he could be confident in. The three others were getting ready as well, with Sagitari taking out her brass knuckles, Ursus taking his spear off his back, and Orphiucha taking her batons out.

"When I count down from three, we run forward silently. I know this may seem dangerous, but we need the element of surprise against their numbers. Besides, I think I can trust you all to handle some weak grimm."

After he took his claymore off his back, Kang signaled with his hands. "Three… two… one…"

And like that, the seven dashed through the woods, towards a tall spire aiming to the sky. No one yelled a battle cry, nor did anyone even step on a branch. They ran as quietly as possible, until the woods broke into a tiny clearing surrounding the cave. Once through, Liu and the others saw the grimm they were tasked to fight: a large family of beowolves, just like Kang said. Upon sight of the hunters, the grimm's faces, if you could call it that, showed surprise and had no time to get up before the team reached their den.

The first two kills were from, of course, Kang, who jumped in the air and slashed at a duo of grimm from above. They disintegrated, which signaled for the rest of the grimm to mobilize against their attackers.

Liu pulled the end of his scarf into his palm, still constricting it around his forearm. If blocking something reflected it back, what about punching with it? Just as the seven clashed with the grimm family, Liu and one single beowolf caught one another's attention. Liu, acting like his left arm was a shield, held it up and circled the grimm, who did the same. Both kept eye contact, but neither tried to come forward. In Liu's mind, for this to work he had to let the grimm come to him. So, he came up with a plan. For two seconds, Liu ran forward towards his grimm opponent. Seeing this, the beowolf snarled and pounced at Liu, closing the distance with one long jump.

This was what Liu wanted, though. He stopped dead in his tracks and brought his left arm backwards. Then, as the grimm started to come over him, he threw his fist forward, striking the grimm directly in the jaw. And, as predicted, Liu arm bounced back slightly while the grimm went flying, crashing its body into the side of their spire. There were no pins-and-needles feelings in his arm, as the punch was enough force for his semblance to leave the scarf and shoot back into his body. Liu himself shivered at the feeling, and his scarf let go of his forearm.

Liu looked around at the group. Ursus still seemed to relying on his chain, but he did well against the grimm, killing three in one swipe. Sagitari was cutting out the usage of her semblance entirely, and there didn't seem to be a difference from how she usually fought. Orphiucha fought as she normally did, using fast gymnastics alongside quick strikes from her batons. Liu smiled at his group's progress.

That was until the grimm he punched came onto Orphiucha, slamming her into a tree.

"Orph!" Liu yelled as he ran in between her and the grimm. The faunus girl was not unconscious, but the pain debilitated her and she was stuck on one knee. Sagitari and Ursus saw the action, but were held back a large influx of beowolves; thus, Liu was the only one able to defend Orphiucha. Liu held his sword out against the two grimm who were slowly advancing towards them. Quickly, he wrapped his scarf around his arm and pushed his semblance inside of it, though strangely, it moved slower than before. Perhaps it was bad for him to use it too much, which made him lose confidence in this battle.

"Uh, Orph? Can you move?"

Orphiucha muttered, "Give me a second."

The grimm would not wait, though. After looking at one another, the beowolf pair bolted at Liu, who tried his best to hold his ground. The one that managed to make it first pounced and swung its claws. Liu held his arm out in response, and the paw got deflected back and forced the beowolf to fall past them, but the strength of the hit sent the bio-electricity back into Liu.

"What? That wasn't nearly as strong as the punch from before!" Liu said.

The second grimm came far too early for him to recharge his scarf. Liu instead dodged its lunge, then came around with his sword and stabbed in the beowolf's back. Not one to remain in close quarters, Liu pulled his sword out and jumped back, closer towards Orphiucha who was recovering.

"I got a problem," she said from behind his back.

"What is it?"

Just as she answered, Liu saw two batons laying on the ground, several feet away. "I lost my weapons."

"What?!" The grimm took advantage of the distraction and leapt towards the two. Liu had no time to dodge or block, and was successfully tackled by the grimm onto the ground. The force sucked the air out of him, and Liu struggled to get another breath.

Especially due to the fact that the grimm now stood directly on top of him.

It took pleasure in seeing Liu's panicked eyes. Its drool caked itself on Liu's clothes, but he couldn't move still: both his arms were held down by the grimm.

"Hey!" Orphiucha yelled as she jumped on top of the grimm and started punching. But no weapon? She lacked the raw physical strength that Sagitari and Ursus had, so the beowolf simply ignored her assault. It wanted to focus on Liu. It wanted the one that punched it into the side of their den.

Besides, the other grimm recovered from its tough landing and wanted Orphiucha to itself. It pulled the girl off of its partner's back. Orphiucha tried to parkour off of the beowolf's hand, but its grip was too strong. Even her punches felt like nothing to it. Liu tried to fight back as well, but grimm had the strength of several men. How could he manage to break free?

Finally, the grimm had had enough. It opened its jaw and slowly brought its head down on Liu. It wanted to feel as much fear from Liu as it could, and doing the deed at a snail's pace would do the trick. Liu did indeed feel fear, but he didn't want to act like how he used to. If he was going to die, then he was going to face it head on. He kept his eyes open, looking deep into the red of the grimm's eyes. He wouldn't miss a single second.

That was, until a red, hot energy wave created a giant hole through the beowolf. Suddenly, the grip loosened and the grimm fell over to the right before disintegrating, allowing Liu to lean up and see Sagitari wielding Orphiucha's baton. She hit the baton with her brass knuckle and changed it to ice, then shot another wave at the grimm holding onto Orphiucha. The wave struck its arm and froze it, giving the faunus girl a chance to bring her leg up and slam her heel into the frozen arm, shattering it into a million pieces.

The grimm bellowed in pain and stepped backwards, not realizing that Kang had showed up behind him. The general stabbed his claymore into the beast's chest then pulled upwards through its head, disintegrating it in place.

"Liu!" Kang yelled. He leapt towards his son in a mere second and embraced him in a bear hug.

"Are you okay? Let me see your arm."

"I-I'm fine, Dad. You guys helped us, so we're fine."

Kang looked around at Liu to make sure he was fine, then sighed in relief. "Just imagine what your mother would say if she found out our son died on my watch."

"I think that'd be the least of your worries."

Liu's father smirked and rubbed his son's head. "Well, you and Orphiucha are safe, and that's all that matters."

"Orph!" Sagitari yelled as she ran up with her friend's batons. She had a concerned, yet angry look on her face.

"Don't sorry, Tari. I'm fi-"

Sagitari punched Orphiucha square on the face, making her fall down. "You… idiot!"

"Hey, calm down, Sagitari," Ursus tried to calm the situation. He tried to hold Sagitari back, but the girl shoved his hand off and grabbed Orphiucha by her shirt.

"Why, Orph?! Why didn't you use your semblance?"

"Hey," Liu stated calmly, "It's fine. We're alive, Sagitari."

Sagitari looked at Liu with anger. "Don't try to stop me. I'm the only one who knows her semblance, and it sure as hell would have protected you and her."

She turned back to Orphiucha. "Do you remember our promise, or should I say it out loud for them all to hear?"

Orphiucha remained silent. She had no way to defend herself. Liu did feel a little resentful for her not using her semblance, but she had reason, considering the semblance was her father's.

"Fine. We promised that-"

Before she could continue, Kang came from behind and grabbed her shoulder. "That's enough, Sagitari. You're the team leader, and you should act like such."

The guidance from an adult changed Sagitari's facial expression from rage to realization. She took a deep breath, then let go of Orphiucha's shirt. "Sorry," she muttered as she walked away. However, the damage had been done. Orphiucha's face remained pained as she clinched her fists. She was in the most confused state she had ever been.

Kang came up and put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't worry what she said. I know… Hell, I... don't know what to say," he said. Kang was perhaps feeling the same thing as Sagitari. Worse, considering his son's life was in danger. He simply patted her shoulders and walked forward.

"Let's go back to camp."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks very much for taking the time to read RWBY: Revenant! If you like it, give it a follow, favorite, or review! Also, if you don't usually read the after chapters, why don't you give them a good read. The next chapter in that story line is going to be crazy! So, thanks again for reading, and God bless!)


	30. Chapter 30: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 30: After - Like Father, Like Son

_ Ugh, he isn't fully to blame. After all, I was the one who told him how he could use his second chance at life._

_I could make as many excuses as I want, but in the end it was my advice that led him down this road._

* * *

"The One Who Controlled the Winds." That was the term people called Kang during his years as a hunter. Seeing the downpour and thunder that was occurring, it was hard to argue with that.

Soul deftly dodged a strike of lightning from his father by flinging himself in the air. Thankfully, many of the floating rocks here were small enough for his scarf to wrap around them.

"Give it up, Liu!" his father yelled as he raised his sword, absorbed lightning, and slashed once again. The massive wave of lightning gave little room for Soul to dodge, and he ended up having to free fall in order to get out of the way. Again, shot his scarf out and wrapped it around another rock, just below the island his father was on. The best way to fight, Soul thought, would be to not fight at all. He tried to escape, landing on an island that sat on lower elevation.

His father would have none of that. Kang literally slashed through the island he was on in half and fell through the crevasse that he had created. Before Soul could even start running, his father landed on the same island as Soul.

"You can't escape," Kang said, getting back into a fighting stance.

Soul took that advice, then. He charged forward, both swords in hand, and unleashed a flurry of strikes against his father. Kang, however, merely deflected the blows, wielding his two-handed sword in one hand. No matter how fast he went, or what underhanded method he took, his father always seemed to block. He tried to trip his father with the scarf, but Kang could dodge it without even looking. He also tried to involve some kicks or punches, but again, Kang took no effort in getting out of the way. Nothing was wokring for Soul. Eventually, his father changed his strategy and slammed his fist into Soul's gut with a force strong enough to launch him twenty feet. Luckily, Soul managed to land on his feet, but it didn't help him with catching his breath.

"You're weak, Liu. How can you hope to kill someone like Adam if you can't even beat me?" His father slowly walked straight with his sword rested on his shoulder.

Weak? No, Liu was weak. Liu was nothing. Soul, however, was something.

Soul gritted his teeth and summoned his semblance into his muscles. Upon injection, he felt faster. He felt stronger. Soul knew it still wouldn't be enough, but he had more up his sleeve than a simple strength enhancement. Just after planting his feet deep into the rocky ground, he shot himself forward. Again, he released his flurry which his father managed to block, though he was required to use both of his hands. The frustration took Soul, and he slammed both of his swords downwards against his father's blade. The clash felt like a shock wave had occurred around them, and all the falling water from the storm clouds was shot in the opposite direction of the duo, giving them a small moment of dryness before the rain started falling again. Suddenly, it was as if the battle became a competition of strength. Soul held his blades down while his father tried to push them back with his claymore. It was evenly matched.

At least, that's what Soul thought.

"Is that the best you've got? Then allow me," Kang boasted. With an enhanced swing from his claymore, he sent Soul flying into the air above, into one-half of the original rocky island they first landed on. Soul's aura sufficed considering it was both his and the Voice's, but it didn't stop him from feeling pain. He was thankful when he made it through to the other side, but that relief ended the instant Kang put his sword away and pointed towards Soul.

"Oh, no," he muttered. Soul had just barely enough time to latch onto a nearby floating, small rock and shoot himself away before a pillar of lightning hit his original position.

Soul continued his process of grabbing floating rocks with his scarf, then launching himself just before he father called for lighting to strike. Each time came closer and closer. Soul knew the more he stayed out in the open, the more of a chance he had to getting struck. There was only one way to keep from getting hit by lightning, and that was getting under the island-sized rock his father stood on. Soul kept throwing himself in the air, though his aim led him more and more downwards. Soul shivered when he felt the heat from one of the strikes, but he couldn't let it falter him. Holding onto a rock from under him, Soul shot himself vertically down, out of sight.

* * *

Kang sighed as he saw his son fall below the island, out of his vision. If he wanted another floating island to turn into a floating pile of rocks, so be it. Kang took his claymore off his back and, after striking it with lightning and making its length longer, struck the floor in front of him. Like before, rather than the entire island falling, the crevasse simply grew from where he had cut as the two-halves floated away from one another. Once it was large enough, though, he jumped down, intending to catch Liu again.

Little did he expect Liu would be catching him.

* * *

Soul grabbed a rock floating just under the island his father was on and slowly swung upwards. If his father was going to do the same thing, then…

Soul was correct. Kang once again slashed the ground in order to create a fast way to get down. Instead, Soul released his scarf off of the rock and send himself into the giant crack first. It was a tight fit and Soul felt he was going to scrap his nose off from the speed he launched himself with, but he managed with no issue. Once the walls were far enough apart, Soul started running on the side he predicted his father to be on. Rather than take out his weapons though, Soul kept his swords sheathed and, with one more boost from his scarf grabbing a convex crack in the wall, found himself where he needed to be. Soul raised his fist in the air, and amazingly and unpredictably, struck his father in the chin just as he came out of the crack.

His father still distracted, Soul shot his scarf out, wrapped Kang's torso, picked up him, and threw him back into the ground. The result created a large cloud of dust that made everything invisible.

"Sorry, Dad," Soul whispered. It was unfortunate he had to turn to this, but he had to finish his mission. One Soul landed on the other half, he manipulated his semblance to release the scarf and come back.

Only, it didn't.

Soul pulled on his semblance, but the scarf didn't return from the dust cloud. It was as if his scarf was caught on something, perhaps some rock near Kang. But, Soul's semblance was strong enough to tear something like that out of its roots. How could-

The dust subsided to reveal Kang, a small streak of blood coming from the side of his mouth, holding onto Soul's scarf with one hand. His strength alone stopped Soul's semblance. "That's quite a punch you've got. Unfortunately, being your father doesn't mean I won't get pissed off," Kang grunted.

His father then grabbed the scarf with both hands and pulled, and Soul, who always has his scarf wrapped around his arm inside of his sweater, was pulled along with it. The kid felt the wind get knocked out of his lungs as he was violently thrusted around the air. He was also helpless when Kang let go of the scarf and slammed his hilt against Soul's head, launching him horizontally.

Soul eventually crashed into a cliff near the edge of the floating island he was on. It was painful beyond belief, both physically and emotionally. His skin was red and scratched off in several places, and he had a few bruised ribs. This wasn't an issue though: He could heal from it within the minute. However, that sequence revealed the truth: That his father was truly willing to do things to Soul that would kill a man. He looked at his father walking, and was stunned that this was the same man that raised him. He felt cold and ruthless. Perhaps this was how he became the general.

Soul started panicking. How could he win against his father, who was known around the world for his strength and intelligence? It was like academy days again, when he kept comparing himself to Kang. Regardless, Soul was worried that his path would come to an end.

And he caught himself smiling.

Soul grabbed his mouth in complete despair once he felt his cheeks involuntarily lift. It was like when he fought those two faunus in Vale. Or when he beat up that group in Menagerie. Both times, when he got hurt badly, he smiled and suddenly everything would become worse. What was going on in him? Why was his mind becoming like that? Was his mind already like this? Soul grabbed his head and closed his eyes, trying to keep control on what could happen. If he were to become like that again, someone may die, be it him or his father.

Luckily, Soul opened his eyes in time to see Kang flying in his direction. He managed to dodge in time, causing Kang's sword to catch itself in the rock.

"Nice moves."

"Dad, you're trying to kill me?"

Kang yanked his sword out of the rock, destroying it completely. "You'll heal, right? If it means bringing you home, I'm going to stab you."

Soul gritted his teeth and jumped forward as he did something he hadn't tried since school. He wrapped his fist with the scarf and shot his semblance into it, then threw a punch with all of his might. His father brought his sword up to block it, a predictable but necessary defense. As the strange physics of Soul's semblance dictates, though, he was thrown in the opposite direction the instant his blade touched the scarf. Soul's semblance did the same, flying back into his body, though he didn't shiver as he used to. Instead, he put the semblance right back into the scarf – faster than Kang made a landing. With his muscles still strengthened, Soul leapt towards his father and pulled his swords out. In only a few leaps, he made it to his father.

This time, Soul was fighting in desperation. He knew he couldn't run from his father. He knew any sort of escape required dealing with Kang first, and that meant fighting. Soul unleashed a panicked sort of strikes, all of which Kang blocked with ease.

"C'mon, Liu. I thought you were better than this."

Soul threw them faster and faster, harder and harder, but the result was the same. Kang merely blocked and dodged the attacks with a speed that looked as if he wasn't even trying. He almost seemed to teleport with each movement.

Anyone, knowing Soul's semblance, would question why his father was faster. After all, Soul was imbuing his own muscles and senses with bio-electricity, making him stronger and faster by a large margin. However, Kang himself could do the same. The only difference was that Kang required an outside source, like a storm, while Soul took from his own bio-electricity. Along with this, Kang always kept himself charged up in any situation, just like this moment.

"It's time I end this," Soul's father muttered. He then brought his sword down into a vertical slash – faster than the human eye could see – and slashed across his own son's torso.

Soul yelled in pain. He fell to his knees and dropped his swords. It had been a long time since he had felt this much pain. Of course, it didn't compare to when he was shot by a missile, but that time was long past. He could only focus on the present as he felt blood on his hand. His wound was healing, sure, but pain was a different matter. Even when it was full healed, the pain from a wound could paralyze Soul.

"Still not enough, huh? I didn't want to have to do anything more," Kang said as he raised his sword once more.

Soul gripped his chest as the pain spiked once again in fear of another strike. Liu would give up and surrender. He would realize his mission was wrong and return home with his father. He would apologize, drop his weapon, and leave.

But Soul was not Liu. Not anymore.

Soul gripped his leaf-shaped sword with his right hand and forced his semblance into it, then just as his father was bringing his claymore down again, clashed with it. The semblance did just as expected, and Kang's arm was shot upwards at such a speed that his shoulder dislocated while Soul's semblance went back into his body. Kang grunted while grabbing his right shoulder, which Soul used to begin a new assault.

Calmed down, he released a new set of concentrated slashes. His father still dodged, sure, but the attacks came dangerously closer to his body – not that Soul was trying to hit any lethal areas. Some strikes even grazed Kang and created small cuts, giving Soul hope that he could win.

Then Kang relocated his shoulder with a red face full of anger.

Seeing the rage made Soul hesitate for only a moment, but that was more than enough time for Kang to take advantage. He grabbed his son's wrist in between one of the strikes and spun a few circles before throwing Soul off the island, through more floating rocks, and finally into the inner part of a giant, circular floating boulder.

He could hardly see inside of the dark structure, so Soul instead used his sense of touch to determine the damage that had gone through his aura. Again, a few broken ribs. Several scratches here and there. A bent nose. Soul repositioned his nose painfully, and shook his ribs a bit to make sure they healed properly before crawling through the hole his impact had created. About ten feet deep, he finally poked his head out to get a refreshed look at the battlefield of him and his father. It was still raining, a small drizzle that came from the storm his father had summoned. Several of the giant floating rocks of Lake Matsu had been completely demolished from their exchanges, though it was insignificant compared to the total number. His father was situated on the same island half they were fighting on, standing directly by the second, one-edged sword Soul had dropped.

Once Kang raised his sword in the air, Soul knew he had to get moving. He shot his scarf out towards a nearby floating rock and launched himself forward, hoping to get back on the island before his father released more lightning strikes or charged himself up some more. Once he was past the rock he used for launching, Soul grabbed another, and another, jumping from one rock to the next in hopes of beating his father. Eventually one more rock stood between him and Kang, which he reached just as lightning struck his father's sword. He pulled forward even harder, hoping to reach there and-

As he made it past that final rock, Kang slashed his sword downwards, and shot a huge wave of lighting at Soul. With no way to block or dodge, Soul screamed in immense pain from the foreign electricity that entered his body. His muscles spasmed in a way he wasn't familiar with and he could do nothing as he crashed into the ground by his father.

_The pain, _he could only think, _the pain._

Soul managed to get on his knees rather than stay on the wet ground, but he could do nothing more. He breathed hard and gripped his head as the electricity continued to mess with his own bio-electricity in ways that provided intense discomfort. He barely even noticed when he father came forward and forcefully put his hand on Soul's shoulder.

"Let's go, already," his father spoke. The pressure his hand put on Soul indicated he wasn't going to take no for an answer, and for some reason, that made him angry. He had a goal. He had a mission! He needed to go through with this! He needed, he needed… No one could stop him, his mind kept saying. Not even himself.

Soul slowly put his hand on his father's. "No," he whispered.

As Soul looked up, he sent almost all of his semblance into his father, effectively shocking him back. Kang, for the first time in this battle, yelled as the electricity did the same thing to him as it did to Soul. Soul could imagine how it must feel, having such a large amount of energy go through your body, and yet he continued it. No matter how much regret he felt from hurting his father this way, Soul let his semblance keep on shocking Kang. The electricity must have deactivated his semblance as well, because Kang couldn't pull his hand back. Soon, Kang closed his eyes and his sounds got quieter. Soul grabbed his other sword from the ground and sheathed it while pulling himself up to his feet and continuing to harm his father.

"I'm sorry, Dad," he whispered. Suddenly, Kang's eyes opened.

"I'm sorry, too!" he yelled. Then, his knee shot up and crashed into Soul's stomach. Immediately, the boy let go of his father's hand and held onto his torso as he gasped for a single breath. Kang didn't let him recover though. Soul's peripheral barely caught his opponent's fist coming forward before getting punched in the face. Then another came forward. Then another. He was being beaten blue. After the initial punch that rattled his brain, he found himself unable to dodge any other attack, and while Kang's attacks were far slower than before, Soul was practically paralyzed. Only his eyes could rely what was going on, all the way to the final attack – a large hook that struck him perfectly. Immediately, Soul was launched once again, only this time the pain and wounds he had taken from the entire battle burdened him, and he found himself unable to lift his hands and catch his fall. He crashed, and after a few skips along the ground, eventually found his own lifeless body roll to a stop a good fifty feet away from his father.

Weakness and exhaustion overtook him. He could fight no more. He couldn't even try to get up. Soul was defeated. Just like when he took the blow to the head against the gang in Menagerie. Just like when he got shot by a missile against that faunus duo. Just like when he got shot multiple times by a pistol by that one bandit. And almost like when he watched Sagitari take a hit for him before she fell into that coma.

And as a result, he caught himself smiling that same inhuman smile once more.

* * *

Kang finished catching his breath, but the deed was finally done. Liu put up a good fight, but it proved little against Kang. He hated that it came to this, but there was no other way to get Liu to come back home, he thought. With a crack of the neck, he walked towards Liu's unconscious body, across the floating island they were on.

Something caught his eyes, however, and a strong pressure made Kang stop dead in his tracks. Liu's scarf suddenly came out of his sleeve and grabbed the ground. As if it had a mind of its own, it used the ground as an anchor and lifted Liu's body, which still hung lifelessly. Yet, when Liu's feet touched the ground, he stayed standing, and the scarf returned into his sleeve.

"Liu?" Kang said aloud, hoping to get his attention. Upon that sound, Liu slowly turned around, his arms still hanging down. Each second made him hold his breath until Liu's face eventually came around.

And a freakish smile was spread across his mouth. One so unsettling that it gave Kang chills.

Without any indication, Liu suddenly ran in Kang's direction, swords pulled out from their sheathes. Kang took out his claymore and stood in a defensive stance, unwilling to attack the new beast that took the form of Liu. Once nearby, then, Liu released a new, crazed sequence of attacks that had almost no rhyme or reason. Some were sword slashes. Some were kicks. Some were strikes with the hilt.

For once, Kang found himself unsure how to react towards Liu. His path took him this far psychologically. What was it, then? His overuse of his new semblance? His friends' deaths? Was his new eye color related to this? He had no idea what was going on in Liu's mind, especially now that he was smiling like a maniac.

Kang brought his blade forward, only intending to give Liu a warning strike. As a response, however, Liu jumped into the blade, allowing it to go through his stomach. Kang could hardly stand seeing his son impaled so he tried to pull the blade out, but Liu refused to let him. Liu grabbed onto the hilt and pulled himself and his smile closer to Kang's face. Kang's frozen stance proved beneficial to Liu, and he brought his two swords forward once again. In order to get away, Kang let go of his own and jumped away.

Liu, or rather the thing that took the form of Liu, pulled the claymore out of his torso and held it like it was nothing. He must have both his semblances activated, as his wound was already healing and his muscles allowed him to handle Kang's sword.

"Dad," Liu said, "Dad, dad, dad. Using a sword against your own son? Son? Son? How… brutish. Brutish. Brutish. Brutish. Ha. Ha."

Kang said nothing and got in an unarmed fighting stance. Liu's strange way of speech only made him want to keep even more of a distance. But, he had to force himself to fight. No matter what, he needed Liu back. Hesitantly, he ran forward and raised his fist.

Liu grinned even wider and threw the sword towards Kang, then dashed himself. Kang managed to catch the blade in time, and slammed it down on Liu from above, though the boy blocked it with his two swords in an X position. Kang wasn't even holding back in his attack. It didn't seem that Liu did either with his block, but his smile refused to fade. Instead he shot his scarf out, which Kang moved out of the way from.

"That won't hit me, Liu."

"I know," Liu practically laughed. He scarf unpredictably slid back into his sleeve, but at a bit of a slower pace that how it usually moved. It also seemed like it was grabbed onto something. Quickly, Kang turned around to see what was happening…

And found a rock crash into him.

The impact sent Kang gliding over Liu's head, across the chasm that he created. He managed to plant his feet on the other half of the island they were on, but it wasn't too long before Liu grabbed another rock and threw it towards Kang. He slashed through the rock, but already Liu was grabbing another.

Finally, Kang was awakened from his stupor. The rock made him know what his job was. He activated the semblance and made the storm above him stronger. Then, he sent his lightning down on Liu, who used the rock he grabbed as a means of escape. Like before, he was flying from rock to rock, dodging Kang's lightning attacks, only Liu kept moving erratically. He was always one step ahead of Kang's lightning, getting out of the way at the last second. If that was the case, he had one more move he could do. Kang moved his aim slightly ahead, and just before Liu could grab the next rock, struck it and crumbled it to pieces. Liu's scarf encircled around dust and his smile only slightly dropped when he started falling.

Soon, Liu fell out of sight, below the island. Kang learned his lesson, though. He was going to make sure Liu wouldn't surprise him again. Rather than jumping down the chasm he created, he instead sent dozens of lightning pillars down the crack into the water below. The hundreds of thunder claps would be enough to make a man deaf, but Kang had dealt with this his whole life. Once he was satisfied that he sent enough lightning down below, Kang slowly walked towards the crevasse.

That is, until another two chasms formed to the left and right of Kang. Then more in front and behind him. Then several others.

The number of cracks was too much for the island, and Kang found that the piece he was standing on was unable to stay balanced. The piece started falling over, and Kang, unable to remain on it, decided to jump off of it in the hopes he could surprise Liu.

Instead, Liu was waiting for him on a small, flat rock directly below the bigger island, wearing the same sadistic smile.

Before Kang could attack, Liu threw his scarf at him. Kang, being in the air, was unable to dodge, and the scarf wrapped around his arm. He also lacked any way to pull Liu, which gave his son all the advantage. Liu turned around and threw his hand down, forcing the scarf to throw Kang into another floating rock. He managed to block the impact with his aura, but he couldn't fight as Liu kept throwing him into more and more rocks, refusing to let go of his arm.

He could feel it. His aura was getting weaker and weaker the more rocks he crashed into. He tried to cut the scarf with his claymore. The scarf only moved around the blade. He tried to use his lightning. With no clear way of focusing on his target, his semblance was highly inaccurate. He tried to pull. Liu's manipulation of his scarf somehow prevented Kang from being able to get closer. All Kang could do, then, was withstand all of the rocks until there was nothing more to crash into. His aura had the strength. Hopefully.

When he had hit around fifteen rocks, Liu let go of Kang and threw him downwards into another island. This would be fine usually, but the fight had left Kang's aura very low. He held his arms over his head to prevent any lethal damage, but at this speed, anything was lethal. The giant floating island came closer and closer. Kang bit his tongue in preparation to keep conscious and said a little prayer. He knew this was going to be bad.

And then the feeling of solid rock crashed into his body at an awesome velocity.

* * *

In this moment, Soul didn't want to fight it anymore. He wanted to smile. He didn't care about the damage his semblance was causing to his muscles or senses. He just loved the feeling of fighting to the death.

He jumped down into the crater he created in the island below and looked around the dust. "Hello?" he spoke aloud.

The dust eventually subsided, and Soul caught his father's body, standing up with the claymore in his hands. He had a lot of blood dripping down his head. His eyes were foggy and it looked like he was nearly unconcious.

Soul took out his blades and whistled in amazement. "You're still conscious, Dad? Conscious? Conscious?"

Kang said nothing. He just pulled his body towards Soul and started slashing his sword. Soul swung his swords as well, and for once since the fight started, they were battling evenly. At the moment one gained the upper hand in the fight, the other would pull a trick and start controlling the rhythm of the battle. Iron hit iron. Blood hit blood. Soul held his ground, as did Kang. Each swing brought a wave of rainwater along with it. The thunder claps struck overhead but none came down, as if Kang was unable to control it now. Yet even then, Kang was a formidable opponent. Before Soul could slash downwards at one moment of the battle, Kang grabbed him and threw him over his shoulders. Soul caught himself, though, and came back around with a quick trio of strikes from his blade, which Kang successfully blocked. Finally at the end of this long exchange, both the father and son clashed their swords, Kang downwards and Soul sideways, and caught each other in a hold. Soul smiled and looked up, hoping to see his opponent excited in this fight as well.

Instead, he saw a panicked father. Kang's eyes spoke a thousand words. About his fear for his son. About his confusion on all of these events. About his worry for Soul's future.

It wasn't funny. Soul stopped smiling in an instant.

He faltered and stepped backwards, removing his blade from the clash. He looked at Kang's face and saw the blood and sweat that was dripping from his head, and the exhaustion that kept him from hitting Soul in this moment. Soul looked at his hands and saw the blood that dripped from the wounds of him and his father. He sheathe his blades and gripped his arms. Soul then shook his head and continued muttering, "This isn't me. This isn't me."

Kang limped his way forward, which spooked the kid. Soul quickly walked away, out of the crater and towards the edge of the island. He looked back one more time at his father, who was far too exhausted and weakened to even speak. All Kang could do was drag his claymore along as he limped towards Soul and muttered words that were unintelligible. Soul had done this. He had brought his father into this sorry state.

"Dad, I… can't. I'm sorry. Please, let me go." Soul jumped off the island after those words, towards the water that was situated hundreds of feet lower. He had to get away. He couldn't stain his hands further here. Yet, another sound followed after he jumped, beyond just the rush of the wind that whooshed around him.

Soul turned around to find his father jumping after him.

"Dad?!" Kang was still holding his hand forward, eyes half-closed. At this height, his father was going to die once he hit the water. Soul shook his head in fear and instant grabbed Kang while they were still in the air. He may not be able to heal his father, but he could do one thing. Deftly, Soul spun them both horizontally, parallel to the surface of the water. Carefully, he positioned himself below his father. If hitting water from a long height was like hitting concrete, then it would better to land on a body. Soul took a deep breath and readied himself.

He had to remind himself, he could heal. It would just be very painful.

* * *

It was nearly dusk when Soul pulled him and his father to the edge of Lake Matsu, miles away from where they fell. The feeling of reaching land overcame all the pain and exhaustion he was feeling right now, and once Soul brought his unconscious father down safely, he laid down. For the first few seconds, he was relieved. Then, he remembered what he had done. What he had caused.

Soul got back up and took a look at his father. With heightened senses, he determined all the damage. Broken ribs, several hairline fractures, bruises, cuts. There was so much damage that it took Soul a while to know if his father would survive or not. Yet, even when he was assured Kang would survive, Soul did not stop feeling guilt. Worse guilt than anything he had ever felt. Worse than when he put a child in danger. Worse than when he killed for the first time. Worse than when he restarted his journey. Soul was lost, and the tears he felt proved this.

Unconsciously, he tried to reach out to the Voice. "What do I-"

_Stop, _the Voice spoke firmly. _Soul, just stop. I've tolerated some of the bad things you've done before, but this? There's nothing you could do that would top this. I told you I'd always be with you in the hopes that you would change, but I know now that that isn't true. And while I can't break free from your body, I can shut myself off to you. My semblance is yours, but nothing else is. No more dreams. No more meetings. I will remain speechless at the back of your head until the day you die. Goodbye, Soul._

Soul sat there, stunned at what the Voice in his head said. He was lost, and no one could guide him. He thought it would hurt more. Instead, everything emotional shut off in his brain. His sense of guilt left him. His sadness, too. He even forgot what the tears that fell down his cheek were about. His father's body was just a body now.

All that was left was a stronger sense of revenge. It was the only thing that could fill his heart, and he wanted it only. Soul wiped the tears off his cheek and smiled for this hope. Who needed the Voice, anyways? She didn't even tell Soul her name or her past. No, Soul was a lone wolf. There was no way to change his past, and he wanted it that way.

Despite still being exhausted, Soul limped into the woods, where he would unknowingly run into a chance at revenge.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for reading this chapter of RWBY: Revenant. I was so excited to be able to write this chapter! It's been in my outline since the beginning. Anyways, be sure to review, favorite, or follow! Thanks again and God bless!)


	31. Chapter 31: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 31: Before – Orphiucha (2)

"That should stop the bleeding," Ursus said as he finished wrapping Liu's arm with a bandage.

"Thanks." It was the worse wound he'd gotten on this entire trip, which was to say, not that fatal. However, the emotional trauma and guilt was far worse for Orphiucha. Since they returned, she'd been hiding in her tent, not even coming out for food. Now, the sun had dropped over the horizon and Kang, feeling the nervous tension of the camp, decided to give the group a break for the evening.

Sagitari herself was hiding inside her tent as well, so it was just Ursus and Liu sitting outside.

"What do you think about what happened, Ursus?" Liu asked.

"About Orphiucha not using her semblance? I'm not sure. I know she has a bit of personal issues involving it, but… she was willing to let a team member die before using it? I feel a little upset about that. Regardless, she's my friend and I forgive her."

He sighed. "I don't want our team to nearly disband again."

"I agree," Liu said. "You know, Ursus, you've changed a lot."

Ursus' eyes widened. "What?!"

"In a good way, I mean! I'm glad that you've opened up to us now."

Ursus smiled a little. "Well, you guys were the first to ever really accept me. Minus my family, of course."

Liu realized he never talked much to Ursus on the topic of his past. Other than his time in school, of course. "Where is your family?"

Ursus scratched his head. "They live on the east of Vale. There's me, my mom, my dad, and my ten other brothers."

"Ten?!"

He laughed. "Yeah, and I'm the youngest. Strangely, I'm the biggest, too. My brother, Kuma, comes close but only by a few inches."

"And what did your family think when you decided to become a hunter?"

"They weren't too ecstatic to say the least. But eventually, they learned to accept my decision."

Liu smiled and laid down on his back, looking at the night sky. "Family," he muttered, "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. Which group do you think our team is under? We didn't choose each other, after all."

"I thought we did when we got the chess pieces?" Ursus laid down beside him on the grassy ground.

"I mean before that. We all met each other by coincidence before that whole chess piece examination thing, so you could also say we didn't choose each other. Meeting each other in the forest was also random."

"I don't know where you're going with this."

Liu rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about Orphiucha! She's talks about how she hates her father, so maybe we need to reassure her we're her family."

"She doesn't like her father?"

Liu leaned up. He forgot Ursus didn't know that. "Crap, forget I said that."

"Huh? When did she tell you?"

"I… well, I talked with her one night outside."

Ursus kept looking up, but groaned. "Liu, I don't think that's going to work. Do you have any other ideas?"

"I… don't know."

Following this, the two boys kept looking at the stars. It was all they could do in this troubled time. Just observe.

Soon, though, the issue of reconciliation would fall onto them rather than Sagitari, and observation would have to come to an end.

* * *

Three more days had passed, and neither Orphiucha nor Sagitari were talking with one another. In fact, Orphiucha kept quiet with everyone, only replying to all questions with a simple one-word answer. When all team training and assignments came to an end, she went back into her tent and closed the zipper, unseen by anyone until the next day.

More worrisome, though, was Sagitari. She kept positive, of course, but it felt forced, especially around Orphiucha. Around Orphiucha, she acted as if the girl didn't even exist, calling out to Liu and Ursus instead. It made the two worry how their leadership was changing for the worse.

Even more worried, rather than worrisome, were both Liu and Ursus, who had no idea how to tackle this issue. They simply went along with training, which left Liu the worst of the two. Every single training session alongside Orphiucha felt awkward, so much so that it distracted him from his semblance training. Uncle Cam tried as much as he could to bring her out of her shell, but she would have none of that. She still wouldn't use her semblance, which kept concerning Liu. She just fought with her batons until she fell to Cam, then retreated back into her tent.

With no more options and evening training over, Liu took Ursus with him to his father's airship, where he was residing in his office.

"Dad?" Liu asked as he knocked on the door to his quarters.

Kang opened the door, a mug of coffee in his hands. "Liu! Ursus! Great to see you! Come in, come in!"

Liu and Ursus both entered into the room, though Ursus was a bit more cautious. "Isn't it a bit too late to be drinking coffee?"

"Ah, don't worry. It helps me do my work in the evenings. Now, what is it you wanted to talk about?" He motioned for Liu and Ursus to sit down at the couch on the side of the room. Now that he got a better look of the office, it made Liu wonder why his dad didn't just sleep in here. The floor was carpeted, the cough was soft, there was an entire library behind the desk opposite of the door, and even a coffee machine rested near the entrance. It was heaven compared to the grass outside.

"I think you know why we're here, Dad." Kang was far too smart to not know what was going on.

Kang nodded and sat down at his desk. "Yes, I know. I expected Sagitari to have gotten over her beef with Orphiucha, but it doesn't seem to have ended yet. Do you guys have any ideas on how to help?"

Liu and Ursus looked at one another before Liu spoke up. "Actually, Dad, we were hoping you'd have an idea. Maybe you could pull them together."

Liu's father shook his head. "Sorry, Liu, but issues within the team need to be solved within the team. I could make those two shake hands and apologize, but it wouldn't be heartfelt. When those two reunite through their own will, the team will become stronger. At least, that's my hope."

Ursus nodded. "But what do we do?"

"You two need to bring them together! And you better hurry before Orphiucha leaves the team."

_Leaving the team..._ That sentence rung in Liu's head and made him freeze. Was this what the others felt when Liu told them he was planning on leaving the team?

"Sir, leaving the team?" Ursus interrogated.

Kang took a long sip of his coffee, one that felt like an eternity. "Orphiucha came by my office after that mission and requested a team transferal. Of course, I'm not in charge of that paperwork, I told her, but it seemed like she just wanted someone to tell it to. She asked if I keep it quiet also, but something like that can't be hidden from teammates."

"Orph…" Liu muttered. Now her? Wasn't she the one who stopped Liu from leaving?

"Why does she want to do it?" Ursus asked.

"I think she felt like she had betrayed the team after that assignment. Choosing to not use her semblance over saving a comrade, even if it was unconscious, is unacceptable in battle. Of course, I didn't discipline her for it, so her conscience is by doing the only thing she can think of, which is leaving the team.

"Sagitari knows this, as well. I told her after training, to which she replied with a simple 'okay.' I know that Sagitari doesn't want this to happen, but after her own… physical confrontation with Orphiucha, she's also experiencing some complicated feelings."

Liu looked down in thought. Not just Orphicha, but Sagitari as well? Both of them were playing this game, and no one was seeing the other's cards. Sagitari as the team leader should be the one to stop Orphiucha. But who would stop Orphiucha if Sagitari didn't?

Liu would. His negative feelings dissipated, and suddenly, a strange feeling blew over him. He felt confident, hopefully, and strangely, angry. He stood up in determination. "I've had it with those two."

"Liu?" Ursus tilted his head.

"Ursus, those two have been hiding stuff from us since day one, and if what they're hiding is the reason Orphiucha is going to leave, then I won't have any of it.

"I've… I've never been in a group like this in my entire life. Sagitari, Orphiucha, you, we all complete one another as a team, and I'd rather kill than see us broken apart. Come on, Ursus. Before, they were the ones who saved us. Now, let's do it instead."

Kang quickly interrupted the two before they left the room. "Some advice, Liu. Don't go demanding they tell you their past. Your team needs a counselor, not a detective."

Liu frowned and stopped his current excitable state. "Right. Let's go, Ursus."

* * *

Sagitari woke up to the entire tent being lifted up and swung around. She screamed out loud before she could put her brass knuckles on. Was it a grimm? A bandit? A bear?

"Sorry, Sagitari," Ursus spoke from outside.

"Ursus? Ursus?! What on Remnant are you doing?!"

"Liu told me to get you out of the tent as fast as possible. I didn't know how to convince you to get out, so I thought maybe I could shake you out."

"Liu? Why Liu? And stop already! Sheesh, you're gonna make me nauseated."

* * *

Orphiucha laid down on her sleeping bag and rubbed the same area of the tent with her fingers that she had been rubbing for the past week. It strangely comforted her and got her mind off of things. Seeing her fingers go up and down. Up and down. Left and right. Left and right.

Left and…

"Orph?" a voice asked from outside the tent. It was Liu.

"Not now, Liu." How could she face him? A friend she almost left to die. No, she couldn't face-

"Yes, now." Abruptly, Liu pulled himself into the tent with a determined look.

"Excuse me?! This tent isn't big enough for two pe-"

As expected, Liu tripped getting in and fell. On Orphiucha.

In actuality, he didn't touch her. He caught himself in time instead of falling completely on the floor. But his head was uncomfortably close to Orphiucha. Orphiucha couldn't help blushing being this close to Liu, and he seemed to do the same.

It took a second for her to respond. "Liu! Get off of me!"

"S-sorry!" he apologized as he positioned himself back him. "Anyways, we need to talk."

"No we don't, Liu. Now leave."

"No," Liu disagreed, "Orph, we're friends. I know what you did was because of… your issue, and because of that, I forgive you for not using your semblance. I did the second the assignment was over. But that doesn't mean I won't stop you from leaving our team."

"Kang told you?! I asked him to keep quiet."

"He told me because he cares. Ursus and I also care. Please, come out with me, and let's talk with Sagitari, because she cares, too. And don't worry, no promise breaking will need to occur."

The promise. The thing Sagitari and Orphiucha kept to keep from reopening past wounds. As long as it didn't involve endangering others, the promise could be kept. Yet, she broke it the minute she refused to use her semblance to protect Liu. That was what made Sagitari upset. Well, that and her steadfast belief in promises. Perhaps what Orphiucha did reminded Sagitari too much of her of past. That made her scared to face their team leader.

And yet, she felt comfortable with Liu. Looking into Liu's dark, honest eyes, she felt at peace. There was no judging. There was no force. He simply knew she would come out with him. His eyes filled her with a soft warmth that softened the fear and depression that plagued her heart. It was then that she realized Liu was the first man she could put her trust in.

"I… I shouldn't."

"Orphiucha, guilt will get you nowhere. Now, come on, please!" he said with his hand outstretched.

This was the boy who danced with her when no one did. This was the boy that took her heat and didn't fight back against it. This was the boy who listened to her complain in the night.

Suddenly, Orphiucha found herself jealous of Sagitari.

She grinned and took his hand. "Fine, I guess I'll talk with you guys."

Liu beamed back. "That's more like it."

* * *

Liu led Orphiucha out into the camp center. It seemed Ursus had also done his job and brought Sagitari out, though he had a massive welt on his head. At least he managed to get Sagitari, who had her arms crossed with a frown.

"I'm glad you came out, Sagitari," Liu said.

"What is it? I don't like being woken up, Liu." Liu almost wanted to remind her of all the times she woke them up in the dorm, but he chose to avoid bringing that up, especially due to the situation at hand.

Before Liu could say anything, Orphiucha spoke. "I'm sorry, Sagitari. I broke the promise. I put Liu in danger because of my own selfish reasons."

Sagitari didn't speak. She merely watched Orphiucha, trying to read the faunus' snake eyes.

She continued. "I… I want to transfer teams. What I did was awful as a team member, and I apologize to everyone here."

"Orph, you don't need to-"

She held her hand up to Liu. "But… I broke a promise to Sagitari, so I have to go through with the consequences."

Sagitari was about to speak up, but stopped once Orphiucha took a deep breath and started speaking again.

"I… trust you all, which I never thought I'd do again with humans. So, I'll go through with the consequences of Sagitari's promise, and tell you all about my past. About my father, Agustus Edelweiss."

* * *

(Author's Note: Thanks for reading this chapter of RWBY: Revenant! If you enjoy it, be sure to give it a follow, favorite, or review! Y'all know I enjoy writing this stuff. By the way, I know many of y'all don't really like to read the after chapters, but this set of chapters involves the after chapter I've been dying to read since I planned out the story! Please give it a read! If you want, that is. Anyways, see you and God bless!)


	32. Chapter 32: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 32: Before – Agustus Edelweiss

_The Edelweiss family actually has familial connection to the Schnee family. The original founder of the Schnee Dust Company had a sister, who married into the Edelweiss family. As such, they were another elite family in Atlas. My father was the original heir of the Edelweiss technology company, though the stories he told me when I was a kid made it seem like he had no desire to inherit the company. In fact, he sounded a lot like a delinquent…_

_ Sorry, I'm just thinking a lot about the past. Anyways, it was thanks to his position, though, that he and my mother got together._

* * *

**Eighteen Years Ago...**

"Agustus? Agustus! Is that a cigarette? Look at me when I'm talking to you, and get your feet off the desk!" The short instructor, both in height and temper, slammed his ruler onto the young adult's desk, making him jolt a little bit.

"Come on, Teach, this is the fifth day we've been on this lesson!" Agustus complained. His rubbed his white, unruly hair with his hands, covered in rings with jewels, to wake himself up.

"That's because you forget everything I tell you!"

Agustus rolled his eyes. Economics and business was not the path he would have chosen to take. Like everything, it was up to his family to decide everything he did. Every food he ate. Every party he attended. Every hour he existed. And in this oarticular aspect, it was everything he studied. Such was the unfortunate role he had as the oldest of the family. He was the heir, fated to rise above civilians and own the entirety of the Edelweiss Technology Company.

And he hated every second of being it.

Of course, he had a few moments of freedom, which he used to fight with his younger sister like a hunter. Unfortunately, she had the freedom to go to a hunters academy while Agustus was trapped, studying everything under the sun that involved running the company. Now, he used his times of freedom to buy clothes and jewelry, the only thing he enjoyed in his position.

Oh, and cigarettes. Those were nice.

Before the teacher could start teaching again, the bell rang, indicating that their lesson was finished.

The teacher groaned. "Agustus, I have no idea how you'll get the company to run."

"Worst case scenario: It will have to walk."

The teacher rubbed his brow at the joke, then walked out as quickly as he could. Before Agustus could be free, however, the butler of the house walked in.

"How was the lesson, sir? Did it prove exciting?"

"About as exciting as sticking a nail in my eye."

"My, that does sound quite exciting!" As usual, the butler twisted anything Agustus said to reflect what his family wanted. The man wasn't awful to Agustus, though. Just annoying every now and then.

The butler continued. "Anyways sir, your father requests that you come with me on a visit to one of the Edelweiss factories. He states that he wants you to understand every aspect of the company, and the factory is one of them."

"And if I say no?" Agustus took out another cigarette and lit it.

"Well, he'd disinherit you, of course!" the butler said with far too much enthusiasm.

Agustus sighed. As predictable as the threat was, it kept him in check. His father never minced words, nor did he leave any empty promises. He was a man who expected every to follow his word, or suffer the consequences. And as dreadfully repetitive as it was used, Agustus always consented. Several times did he try to leave the house with the intent of living on his own, but every time he came back apologizing in fear of becoming homeless. Finally, Agustus had just come to the sorrowful realization that he was doomed to inherit the company, as unmotivated and unprepared as he was.

Finally, the young adult got out of his chair. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Agustus had seen the faunus workforce in Atlas many times, but it never ceased to disgust him. At least that was true in the past. Now, as he walked through the factory watching the faunus-majority workers skillfully put scrolls together, he felt nothing. He felt no pleasure in seeing them work, nor did he feel pity. They simply worked because they must. After all, the Edelweiss Company was one of the few that actually paid them – not that it was much.

"How many workers are there here?" Agustus asked the butler standing by his side.

"Exactly 452, sir. They work from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M." The large lines of faunus worked without a single word spoken between them, so the sound of the conveyor belts were the only things that echoed in the large room.

"Poor guys," he found himself muttering, though only out of what he expected he should say, not what he truly felt.

"What was that, sir?"

"N-nothing! Let's take a walk around," Agustus said as he walked down the steps that led to the factory floor. Eight rows of faunus that looked as if they stretched for a mile stood surrounding four large conveyor belts. The job was simple: Each worker did one part in the creation of the scroll. They did that for twelve hours with a lunch break in between. Looking up close, though, all of the workers together made a single scroll like it was an art. One worker was like a paint supplier, delivering the bits and pieces of the scroll together onto the belt. Another worker was like an organizer, only setting the parts of the device in certain areas to make the next jobs easier. And other workers were like the artists, fixing each part onto the shell of the glass-like scroll. Agustus was very impressed. Perhaps when he became the company head, he'd increase their pay. If his parents let him, of course.

Agustus came up to the middle a row and walked up between the chairs of one wolf faunus and a bear faunus. At the sight of the heir of the company, the two suddenly stiffened up and worked far more like a robot than before. It made him a little disheartened, but he shrugged, instead focusing on the scrolls at hand. He picked one, half-made scroll off the conveyor belt and took a closer look at the insides. There was so much inside of such a small device, it made Agustus wish he had chosen studying electronics. Such a cool creation….

"Excuse me? Could you put that back, please? Some people are going to mess up if you're stopping the belt like that," an annoyed voice said to the left. Agustus turned his head and looked past the wolf faunus to find a woman with dark-red, long hair, sitting with her hands on the metal edge of the belt. She could have easily passed as a human were it not for her green snake-eyes. She looked very young, too, though she seemed far wiser than she looked. The other people around her were whispering for her to quiet down, but she kept staring at Agustus with irritation.

"Sorry," Agustus responded while backing down from her death stare. Before he could put it back on the conveyor belt, though, his hand slipped and the scroll fell on the hard floor, splitting into hundreds of small pieces.

There was no pause before the woman said something that scared the entire factory and surely stiffened up every person within a mile-radius: "Pick it up."

For a brief moment, Agustus felt anger. He was angry that such a woman would command him, the heir, to do something. He was the heir, after all! But then, it was somehow overtaken by a warm, refreshing feeling of curiosity. Agustus felt his chest in amazement. Who was this woman that could command even an heir? Agustus' delinquent nature was brushed aside as he nodded, bent down, and started picking up the pieces.

"Sir, what are you doing?" the butler asked, stunned quiet from this whole experience.

"Help me out here," Agustus said as he pulled some pieces of the scroll's screen out from under the conveyor belt.

The butler nodded and did as he said, but he was also surprised when the woman sighed and bent down as well. "I suppose I could help you, too. It'll help with production," the woman muttered while picking up miniature pieces of the broken scroll. Agustus could hardly respond as he looked at the woman in respect. For once, someone stood up to him. Even the teachers who went hard on him never commanded or called him an equal. They always presented themselves like lower beings, being allowed the pleasure to tutor someone so rich. This faunus, though, made Agustus very curious.

Eventually, the three finished picking up the pieces, which they all conglomerated into the trash.

"There we go. Let's get back to work!" the woman yelled to the others around her. The frozen workers shook like bobble heads and started working on the scrolls that were piling up. Agustus could hardly pull his eyes away from her. She worked so dexterously. There was no stop to her movements.

Unfortunately, his focus was shifted when the butler started saying his name over and over. "Sir? Sir? Shall we go?"

Agustus forced his eyes away from the girl, then nodded and followed the butler towards the stairs.

"I swear, the moment we get home, I am reporting that… snake to your father!" the butler grumbled angrily while they walked up the steps. Agustus quickly caught a glimpse of her again behind the butler's back. The instant he looked at her, though, he was surprised to find her head turning away, as if she was looking at him. He had to get to know her. He needed to. The heir moved his head back towards his butler.

"No!" Agustus yelped and stopped him, "Please, I beg you. Don't do that!"

"And why ever should I not, sir? She did not know her place!"

Agustus shook his head and came up with an idea. "Look, I'm going to be heir, right? So Father wouldn't like it if I left so many of these jobs to him. Leave this faunus girl to me. It'll be a surprise for Father when he finds out I dealt with this girl and broke her spirit."

The butler rubbed his chin. "I don't know, sir. Such a task hidden from your father? I was given the job of relaying everything to him!"

"Look, you like it when my father is happy, right?" Agustus had an idea how to twist the issue.

The butler beamed and nodded. "Of course, sir! Nothing makes me happier than when the lord of the house is happy!"

"See? So if you tell him, it'll be seen as a chore. If I do it without him knowing, though, then he'll be estatic when I tell him!."

The butler thought for a bit, then nodded. "Alright, I will allow it, sir. But please, let it be quick."

"I'll try my hardest." Before they left the room, Agustus took one last glance back at the faunus girl. Again, her head shifted away and she focused again on her work.

* * *

The next day, Agustus managed to finish his lunch fast enough to sneak out to the factory. It was only a mile away, after all. If he did his calculations correct, then the factory workers were going to start their lunch period soon. If he got there in time…

Agustus snuck around the corner of the factory to the side where the massive garage door stood. He didn't understand why their factory had something like this, but it made it beneficial when he saw the faunus starting to pile out of it. He jumped back behind the corner and watched the hundreds of faunus walk out into the empty lot, where they would eat their lunch. Several of them were joking around, with arms around each other's shoulders, but he didn't care for them. All he wanted to find was the one girl.

He moved his eyes through the different hair colors and ears until he found an earless head of long, dark-red hair walking alone with a shopping bag, towards the area Agustus was hiding. Eventually, the faunus woman came to the fence, a good ten feet away from the wall Agustus hug. She was at a distance still and didn't seem to notice the hiding heir, so she proceeded to open her bag and pull out a small sandwich, which she slowly nibbled on.

Agustus took a deep breath. What if she didn't want to see him? What if she ran away? No, he couldn't focus on that. He had to meet her. With confidence, Agustus came out from the corner. Some of the faunus saw him, which caused them to start walking in the opposite direction, but the faunus woman still sat, focused entirely on her food. That was fine, then. It gave Agustus a chance to come closer. He walked and walked, each step heightening his pulse and making him flush in nervousness until finally, he stood over the woman.

The woman still didn't notice him. He gulped, then dawning his typical delinquent attitude, spoke as confidently as he could. "Hey, babe. What say you and I-"

The woman darted eyes of death at him, which immediately shut him up. He just stood there, hand frozen and eyes widened as he stared at this confident, young woman. He couldn't even try to run.

"What?" she muttered, not breaking eye contact, "Are you here to reprimand me? Fire me? Go ahead."

Agustus quickly shook his hands. "No, no, you got it all wrong!"

"Then what are you here for? Do you enjoy watching faunus work?"

"No!"

"I suppose then you're-"

"I just wanted to get to meet you again!" Agustus yelled in the courtyard. It would have been embarrassing, were it not for all the factory workers intentionally ignoring the two.

The woman rose her eyebrow. "W-what?"

"Well, you know, it just surprised me is all, so I wanted to meet you again. Oh, I'm-"

"Agustus Edelweiss. Heir to our great factory's owners. Enchanted to meet you," she interrupted with an eye roll.

Agustus scratched his head. "Err, yeah. Pleased to meet you, too."

The woman nodded and went back to nibbling on her food, effectively ignoring Agustus. Not one to like silence, however, the young man continued, "So why are you sitting alone? All the others are talking in groups."

She then swallowed her food. "I'm new here. Besides, the other workers think that I'm bad luck, what with me telling an Edelweiss family member to do something."

"S-sorry," he muttered. He felt guilty knowing that his intrusion yesterday messed up her social life at work.

The girl sighed and shook her head. "No, don't worry. I don't blame you for anything. To be fair, my personality isn't exactly making people line up to get to know me."

"Well, it did make one person line up."

He swore he saw her cheeks redden a bit. "Then that makes you different. I like different."

Agustus tilted his head. "Well, you're really different, too! You know that?"

The woman stared daggers at him.

"I-in a good way! No one's ever really issued me commands other than my father. They all either kiss my ass, like I'm a god, or ignore me, as if meeting me is like coming in contact with a disease. In a way, it was kind of refreshing."

She took a sip of water. "Since I've been raised, I've been told that if you cause a problem, you gotta fix it yourself. No if's, and's, or but's about it. Do you want to sit down?"

Agustus found himself lowering down beside her, which she didn't seem to mind. He also felt far more comfortable. It was a first in his life, excluding his sister. He replied, "And may I ask, what is the name of the woman who is imparting upon me this wisdom?"

The girl rolled her eyes at his attempt at charm, but answered anyways. "Adya Rasalhague."

* * *

_My father told me he and my mother talked for three months before they decided to escape. When the time came for them, though, their plans fell through. Luckily, he had my aunt to help them out, and they made it to Vale. _

* * *

"Agustus! Wait up," his younger sister called out as she caught him trying to sneak out of the house. She dashed towards him, her curled, white hair bouncing with each step. It was her second day back since her hunter's academy started vacation and she was dying to hang out with her brother. Sadly, this time was when he went to meet Adya.

"Shh! Juni! You're going to get me caught!" he quietly yelled.

"What are you doing?" Juni asked.

He looked around to make sure the butler wasn't around before continuing. "I'm going to meet someone."

"Who? Is it someone I know? Oh! Is it our cousins?"

Agustus shook his head. "You know I can't stand the Schnee's. No, I'm going to meet a girl."

Juni clasped her hands together in excitement. "A girl?! Agustus, you sly dog!"

"You absolutely cannot say a word to anyone here. Got it?"

His sister saluted. "You have my word! Now, go! Go get her!"

Agustus nodded, then jumped out the window.

* * *

Three months. It had been three months since he started talking with Adya. One month since they started holding hands. How did it occur to him that the warm feelings in his heart was a romantic love? At the start, she was rather hesitant to start conversation with Agustus, but once she realized he meant no harm nor acted like other humans, she warmed up quickly to him.

"Listen, you gotta leave this factory," Agustus said as he held her hand. Her hand was warm, a strange contradiction to the fact that she was a snake faunus. Perhaps he didn't understand how faunus physiology worked. What he did know was that he loved how her hand felt. He just hoped she felt the same.

"Agustus, you know I can't do that! This is a paying job!" Adya complained. She kept telling him how much she wanted to enroll in a university, and the factory was the way she hoped to pay for it.

"I could support you! Give you money and stuff like that."

"Agustus," she groaned, "You know I won't accept money from you. I can't be in debt to someone."

"It isn't a debt! Look, it's a present."

She chuckled. "You just want to get me out of this job as fast as possible so we can leave together faster."

"You got me," he laughed. They both decided that once she had the money she needed, they'd leave Atlas. At the very least, she agreed to him paying for their tickets there. Sure, he felt nervous leaving his family, but it was necessary. He wanted to live for himself, and Adya gave him the strength he needed.

"Adya," he continued, "I wish I could do everything in my power to make this factory better. I wish I could-"

"I know," she rolled her eyes, "Your father is in charge, and he never listens to you. You tell me this every day, Agustus."

"I know, but it pains me when I see you working so much."

She tightened her grip on his hand. "Look, if you want to help me, just keep on coming by during my lunch break. I promise you it'll be all I need from you. Okay?"

Agustus froze for a moment before nodding. "Okay."

After that, the two stopped speaking and only took pleasure in looking into one another's eyes. Agustus always wondered what she saw in him. To Agustus, Adya was a beautiful woman whose faunus background only added to her beauty. She was strong-willed, never willing to compromise her own beliefs. It truly made Agustus love her, a fact that came to him only recently. But what did Adya see in him? Staring at her green viper-eyes made him think about that even more.

Suddenly, a deep voice shook them out of their stupor. "Edelweiss?"

Agustus looked up to find two big, suited men with sunglasses. "Yes?" he replied.

"We're here to take you to your father. And Adya?"

Adya tilted her head. "Yes?"

"Your job is effectively terminated starting today."

"What?!"

Agustus let go of her hand and clinched his fists. "Well, what if I say no to both of those? I am the heir of the company, after all."

The two bodyguards looked at one another before nodding. Then then cracked their knuckles and towered closer and closer above the couple. With a mix of grace and power, they snatched Agustus' arms from under and picked him up, and no matter how much Adya punched at the two giants, they didn't even flinch.

* * *

Agustus tried to shake himself out of the bodyguards grip, but it did nothing. They managed to take him the entire way back home, all the way to his father's study. It was there that they finally let go and walked out of the room.

The study was a rare place to enter. Agustus could count on one hand how many times he had been here. It was always a new sight to him, and yet it was never unpredictable. Books, two chairs in front of the desk, and one chair behind the desk. Currently, his father was sitting there, bald and bearded, working on documents.

"You called?" Agustus spoke firmly.

His father did not reply immediately. He continued with his document, signing his name in the areas necessary. After he had finally finished, he looked up with his usual glare and frown and spoke in a raspy voice. "Boy, you've really gotten yourself into something."

"What's it to you?"

His father stood up. "You'd do better not talking to your father that way. You'd also do far better marrying someone of the same class. And species."

A predictable as his father could be, he also had an unwarranted hatred for faunus that all the other business owners in Atlas had. It made Agustus' disgust for the treatment of faunus resurface. "There's nothing wrong with Adya. Besides, how did you find out?"

"You think I'm deaf, boy? I've heard from many accounts of you sneaking out of the house, and our butler told me about your experience in the factory. But, I'm a good father, so I will allow you to apologize so you can return to your studies."

Agustus, hearing that, grew furious. His hands were shaped into fists and he breathed deeply through his nose before getting the past twenty years of torment off his chest. "Good father? Good father?! This is the first time I've seen you since the year started! Hell, I'm trying to remember if it's the first time since last year started! No, you've been far from a good father. You make me hate being a part of this family!"

"Then leave," his father spoke with a red face, "But that means no more money for your precious jewelry and clothes."

Agustus took a look at his hands, littered with rings of gold and silver. On his neck was three necklaces. He felt his clothes. It was a nice part of being rich, but he had found something far greater. Some far stronger and richer than gold or silver.

He found love.

He didn't need money or jewelry. He wanted to start living for himself and that was what he was going to do. Agustus quickly pulled all the rings off his fingers and threw them on the ground. "I'm leaving, then."

His father's eyes widened, to which he followed with a button on his desk. Immediately, the two bodyguards ran in and grabbed Agustus before he could even fight back. He had learned how to use his aura and semblance at a young age, but he lacked the formal training to hold his own or get out of a giant body-builders hold. All he could do was yell and attempt to fight back.

"I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" the man's yell reverberated through the halls.

* * *

The young man threw his shoulder into the door for the fifteen time, but it still didn't budge. He was sure it was already bruised, but continued anyways. He had to escape. He checked the window when he first came in. It was boarded up as if his father had predicted this would have happened. He looked for vents, all of which were on the ceiling, fifteen feet in the air. So, he had only one idea, and that was breaking the door down.

Of course, it wasn't working too well.

Agustus sat down on the soft bed in the guest room he was locked in and threw his fist into it. He then took out a cigarette and lit it,as if that would be his answer to everything. On the one hand, it was satisfying that he broke his father, forcing him to actually rescind his promise that Agustus would become homeless. However, the young man had far more trouble to take care of. There was someone waiting for him, someone who had lost their job because of him. He had to find her. At times like this, he focused and thought long about the shape of Adya's face. Her beautiful eyes, her thin nose, her dimples, it all was a perfect recipe for settling Agustus down. Yet, it also riled him up. It reminded him he had to break out. Immediately, he jumped off the bed and started charging for the door.

Before he could hit it, though, a familiar voice came from the other side. "Agustus?"

It took him a while to realize it was his sister. "Juni? Juni!"

"What's happening? Why are you locked in?"

Agustus shook his head and finally decided to tell her the truth. "Juni, the girl is a faunus who works at our company's factory."

"What?"

"Yes. I… love her, Juni. No one else acts like her or treats me as she does. I find her snake eyes breath-taking. I'm sorry, but I'm in love with a faunus."

The door was silent. So long, in fact, that Agustus was worried the revelation would prove too much for Juni and she would run away. However, soon a voice came from the other side. "Take a few steps back."

Agustus consented and walked back to the bed. As soon as he did, though, the entire door was blasted away into smithereens, leaving a giant cloud of dust that made him cough. He stood up and walked forward, but Juni did faster than him and approached him in the room.

"Get out of here, Agustus!" she said, a look of inspiration in her eyes.

"Juni? You're helping me?"

She nodded. "I know we never talked about the subject, but faunus are people. And if you're a person, too, why should you be pulled apart? Besides, nothing would please me more than seeing Dad at a loss."

Agustus ran up and gave his sister a big hug. "We're going to Vale. Come visit us sometime."

His sister started to sniff a bit, which he took as crying. "I'm going to miss you so much."

Agustus let go and looked her in the eyes. "Thank you so much, Juni. I'll be seeing you."

With that, he ran into the hole where a door once existed, into the halls of the mansion.

* * *

Adya sat on her moldy desk chair, aggressively tapping her forehead with a pencil. Balancing her money for this coming month was tough, especially since she was without a job now. That was the least of her worries, though. Her thoughts only kept returning to Agustus. Any attempt at calculations for her expenses resulted in her fearing for his safety. She tried to remind herself that she should be thankful she was only fired, and that Agustus was in such a good social standing. Yet, her mind only focused on him.

Upset, she threw her pencil into the wall, sticking it perfectly into the old wood. Still not satisfied, she stomped her foot on the ground, shaking her single room apartment's light around in the process, which the tenant below responded with a thump of their own. She then took to pacing around the room, as if that would calm her nerves. Why was she so concerned for him? She tried to focus on the aspect that he was a human, but she couldn't do that for long. Though some humans were rude and racist, many were good like Agustus.

Besides, she loved him. She didn't understand why, but she did.

After just talking every working day for three months, she had found that his companionship provided more than just simple conversation. No, it got her through the day. It gave her the strength to work harder for the sake of her university costs, as well as for the sake of being with him. That warm feeling was like fuel, and having him separated from her stirred her heart with worry. But why? Why did she love him?

_THUMP!_

Adya nearly jumped out of skin when her window rang with a sudden, loud sound, like a rock hit the window. Her confusion turned into rage when she predicted it to be the neighborhood kids' new hobby. She quickly walked to the window and pushed open the door.

"He-"

Before she could speak, another rock hit her square in the forehead, making her fall backwards. It wasn't enough to make her faint, though. Just enough to scare her.

"S-sorry!" a familiar voice yelled from outside.

She quickly jumped up. "Agustus!?"

* * *

It had only been once that Agustus visited Adya's apartment, when she went to pick up some things for a date they went on a few weeks back. To see such a different quality of life from his own was eye-opening to say the least. The room was probably big enough for five people to stand in, and no more. The floor was creaky, the bed was rough, and the lighting was dark. It was owned by the girl he loved, though, so he couldn't complain.

After she helped him in and closed the door, she gave him a big hug. "I was so worried about what happened. Are you okay?"

Agustus smiled brightly. "Better than okay. I'm… free."

Adya's eyes widened. "What happened?"

He sat down along with her. "I told my father I was leaving the family. He locked me up, but then my sister helped me escape."

"Oh, Agustus, you shouldn't have! You won't have any money anymore."

"I don't care about money or clothes or jewelry, Adya. I care about you. You were the first woman to give me the strength to leave my parents, and for that I'm so glad to have met you."

Adya looked slightly worried, but calmed down. "So what are you going to do?"

"Well, let's do what we planned on doing! Let's go to Vale."

"Vale? Agustus, you know I wanted to get the money I needed for a university before we went!"

"Don't worry, I took a lot of money from home before I left. It should be enough to cover expenses and then some." Agustus tapped the pocket on his backpack, filled with stacks and stacks of Lien.

Adya's facial expression flattened. "You know what I said about borrowing money, Agustus! I won't do that."

Agustus felt a bit nervous, but he fought it back. This woman deserved as such. This woman deserved his love, so he couldn't back off now. He had to ask the most important question of anyone's life. "Then… let's get married! That way you'll have my money, too."

The faunus girl jumped off the side of the bed. "What?! Do you know what you're saying?!"

He nodded. "Yes, I do."

"We don't even have rings!"

Agustus took two out of his backpack then got on his knees. "Actually, I threw all of my rings off except for two for this reason. So, will you marry me, Adya?"

The faunus sat back down and froze. She blinked for a couple of times, gulped, and muttered, "I'm a faunus."

"I know," he replied.

"You're a human."

"I know that, too."

"And you're still choosing me over anyone else in the world?"

"I'd rather have you over anyone else on Remnant, human or faunus."

Adya tilted her head, but slowly grew a smile. "You have a heart of gold, Agustus. I think I know now why I love you. Okay, I accept!"

Agustus beamed back and gave her a small kiss. "You have no idea how happy that makes me! I… love you, Adya."

Adya put on the ring and waved it in the air. A beautiful diamond shined on the top. She had red cheeks from embarrassment, but she seemed happy beyond belief. Luckily, she could still respond in this time of shock and surprise. "I love you, too."

The human of the two couldn't help but stare at her in awe of her beauty. She was a faunus. He knew this. But, what was the difference? Human or faunus, she was Adya. He wanted to keep looking into her eyes. He wanted to brush her hair with his hand. He wanted to ingrain her smile into his brain. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew they had a new mission. A new life waiting for them outside of Atlas that needed no delay. He slowly stood up then reached his hand out to her. "Well, let's go to Vale!"

Adya had no hesitation in grabbing his hand. "Yeah! Oh, but one thing?"

"Yeah?"

"You gotta stop smoking cigarettes when we get to Vale."

* * *

(Author's Note: Thanks for reading _RWBY: Revenant_! It's always such a joy coming back to this. Anyways, if you enjoy this, you should follow, favorite, or review! So, some author stuff: I'm thinking of writing another fanfiction, though it won't be RWBY. Won't start it for a while if I decide to write it, but if I do, then I'll let all you readers know! Also, thanks to RWBY: Revenant, I've been gaining confidence to start writing some actual short stories! I can't send them in for a while since my current job doesn't allow it, but when I do, I'll let you all know as well! Anyways, thanks again for your support, and God bless!)


	33. Chapter 33: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 33: BEFORE – Edelweiss, Part 2

_Mom told me they had no issues getting to Vale. When they arrived, though, it wasn't long that Mom was pregnant with me._

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Agustus spoke loudly as he closed the front door to the small apartment.

Adya quickly got out of her desk chair with a big smile and came forward. She wrapped her arms around Agustus and gave him a kiss. "Welcome home."

Agustus warmly reciprocated the kiss with his own. "Glad to be home. How were your classes today?"

She sighed, her eyes half-shutting in exhaustion. "It's… tough. Medical classes are exhausting. Just today, we started talking about the make-up of RNA and the professor just went in expecting everyone to know what everything was!"

Agustus frowned and moved his fingers through her hair. He tried to comfort, "I know you can catch up. You're a smart woman."

Adya looked away shyly then spoke, "So what did you get for dinner?"

He grinned and raised his bag. "Good spoils at the market. Two instant noodle dishes and a few strange looking vegetables for just one lien."

"Give me the bag! You go clean up. You must be dirty after your first day at work!"

Work. So strange to hear that for the first time. Agustus had started his first job at a bank. It was ironic how the classes he so loathed helped him with a job that involved math and economics. That being said, he enjoyed the job, or at least the first day. He enjoyed that it was his own job, and not his family's job. He also enjoyed the fact that he was working for his wife, which he knew would give him hope even in the worst days. And, he enjoyed finally living, free from expectations and schedules. It was his life now. Agustus handed over the bag of food and walked into the bathroom for a good wash.

After a few nicotine patches, of course.

* * *

The couple sat at the small table they made together, eating the cheap food Agustus had picked up. The food was oily and bland. The table was wobbly and stained. The chairs were creaky and cracked. The walls gave off this moldy smell that the two had no yet grown accustomed to.

Yet, on nights like this, sitting across from the woman he loved made Agustus forget all of that. Even in silence, it was nice.

Tonight was different, though, once Adya put her fork down and sighed before speaking. "Agustus, we need to talk."

Agustus felt a little nervous at that and swallowed his last mouthful. "What's up?"

"I'm thinking of dropping out of school."

His eyes widened. "What?! Why are you saying that? Didn't you want to go to a university after all this time? It can't be that hard, can it?"

She looked away and blushed. "It's just there's… you know…"

"No, I don't know."

"Well, there's..."

"What is-"

"I'm late!" she blurted out, her face red with embarrassment.

"W-what, like you're late for a test or something? Grades are late? Or…. Oh." Like lightning, the meaning struck him, though the full emotional weight had yet to strike. Her tardiness was not at all related to schooling. It was elsewhere, and if what she said was true, then their life was going to change.

Agustus gulped and responded again to his red-faced wife with his own red cheeks. "Do you mean, like, a day? Two days?"

She closed her faunus eyes and loudly proclaimed, "More than two weeks!"

_Oh, there's the emotional weight,_ Agustus thought as the truth rotated through his brain: They were going to have a child. Never before did he ever think he was going to have a kid. Before, it seemed like a pill. He'd never even entertained the thought of having a child. Yet now, he had no idea what he was feeling. He had no idea how he was going to even parent! He put his hand down and quickly tapped his fingers in anticipation.

"Wh… what are you thinking?"

"I don't know, honestly. I'm shocked more than anything"

Suddenly, Adya grabbed his hand and whispered, "Please don't run away."

That fearful request immediately shook him out of his stupor. Here he was thinking of himself while his wife worried that he would be too scared to share in parenting. He reprimanded himself for not thinking beyond himself. Agustus put his other hand on his wife's own extended arm. "I won't! Why would you think that? As long as this world still spins, I will always be with you. Sure, I was a little shocked, but I promise you I want to have this kid with you, Adya. The question is, do you truly want to leave university?"

She nodded with no hesitation. "I know it'll be a big sacrifice, but I care more about our child than my own education. Besides, with an office big-shot like you, we won't need to worry about money."

Agustus chuckled. "Yeah, I'm a big-shot, all right. First day on the job."

The two kept holding hands. "Promise you won't leave?" Adya asked.

"I promise until the day I die."

* * *

_Some joke that promise was. My mom still waits to this day, thinking he'll appear out of thin air. I know the truth, however. _

_ Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, my mom told me about my birth multiple times._

* * *

**Eight Months Later…**

Time was passing at alarming speeds. One minute, Agustus and Adya were just arriving to Vale. The next, Adya had a larger, circular belly and couldn't be alone for fear that she'd go in labor alone. Thankfully, Juni came to town.

Agustus came inside to find Juni and Adya laughing. "I'm home!"

The two girls turned over, and Juni practically jumped up out of her seat. She leapt and gave her brother a large hug. "Agustus!"

"Hey, Juni," he reciprocated, "Thanks again for coming to help with Adya. I know you only just got your huntress license. You fine with missing some potential jobs?"

"You kidding? What's more important that family?" she said with a grin. Juni then gave room for Adya to come forward and kiss her husband hello.

"Glad to see your still doing well, honey," Agustus cheerfully greeted.

"Well we're very blessed to have your sister with us," Adya said before turning to Juni, "How about you stay for dinner?"

Juni waved her hands. "Oh no, I shouldn't! I think I'd just be intruding on you two."

"Not at all!" Agustus proclaimed. "You said yourself that we're family, so we'd be more than okay if you joined us."

His sister thought for a bit before nodding. "Alright, I suppose I can stay for dinner then."

"Great!" Adya said while clapping her hands. Suddenly, though, she had an astonished look upon her face and she swiftly moved to sit down.

"Are you okay?" Agustus asked with concern. He was hoping she wasn't going into labor.

"Y-yeah. Our little girl just amazes me with each kick." Adya had her hand on her round belly, which seemed to visibly move in a small pattern.

"What a kid," he marveled.

"Did you both think of a name?" Juni asked sitting down at the table near Adya.

The two smiled. "We were thinking of naming her 'Orphiuchus.'"

Juni tilted her head. "A girl? Orphiuchus?"

Her brother shrugged her shoulders. "We were just looking at the stars one night and thought it would be a good name for her."

"But, Orphiuchus? With a name like that, she'd be the school laughingstock! It doesn't even sound like a girl's name!"

"Alright, then," Adya spoke, "What do you suggest?"

Juni put her fingers to her chin as she thought. It took a minute, but pretty soon her eyes lit up. "What about just ending it with an 'a'? As in, Orphiucha? That sounds a bit more like a name a girl would have."

"'Orphiucha,' huh?" Agustus pondered, "That's not too bad."

"I think so, too," Adya agreed.

"See? Leave it to your sis to come up with your daughter's name!"

Agustus chuckled a bit, though not at the comment his sister made. He was just content. Here in Vale, he found his real family. A family that didn't force him to study things he hated. A family that didn't choose his entire schedule for him daily. A family that didn't ignore any of his personal opinions, likes, and dislikes. A family that, instead, loved him for who he was.

He couldn't be any happier.

* * *

Agustus opened the door to a fearful sight. A sight he only saw in his nightmares. A sight that made him want to vomit in fear, but not for his sake. For the sake of his wife.

Adya laid on the ground, grunting in pain as a puddle of water spread under her.

"W-w-w-w-what happened?" Agustus managed to stutter as he dashed to her side.

"I spilled a bucket of water all over our floor," she groaned sarcastically, "What do you think happened? I'm going into labor!"

"Where's Juni? Shouldn't she be here?"

"Ugh, don't worry about her. She went to get some dinner. Take me to the hospital!"

"O-okay, let me get the phone."

"There's no time. We gotta drive there!"

"Drive? But-"

"NOW!"

* * *

After a stressful trip of guiding Adya down the apartment stairs, driving to the nearest hospital, and helping her into the doors, Agustus now could only wait outside the delivery room. He was thankful they managed to get her medicated for the pain so that he didn't have to hear her scream, but that didn't make the wait any more unsettling. Each and every second felt like years to him. Pacing was all he could do. He was tempted to buy some cigarettes from next door, but he didn't want to get hooked on smoking again.

He was impressed at the speed by which the hospital accepted Adya, though. Hospitals in Atlas were far more segregated, many of which would outright refuse a faunus even in their dying moments. In Vale, however, along with being required by law to accept faunus, they seemed far more willing to help. They made the right choice in coming to Vale.

Suddenly a familiar voice came from behind. "Agustus! I just made it!"

Agustus turned around to find Juni running in the hall towards him, her curly white hair bouncing with each step. "Juni!" he said bitterly, "I thought you were watching Adya today!"

"I was, but I left to get food for dinner! You gotta believe me when I say that I had no idea she was going into labor! She looked perfect when I left!"

Agustus groaned and sat down at the bench across from the door. "It doesn't matter. At the very least we're here."

Juni sat down beside him. "So how long has she been in there?"

"Only ten minutes," he answered, "We're going to be here a long time."

* * *

**One Hour in…**

"Juni," Agustus asked, "What's going to happen starting today?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean will me and Adya's relationship change? How will it be like every day from now on, coming home to a wife and a daughter?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure you won't hate it."

* * *

**Two Hours in…**

"How do I even hold a baby?"

Juni rubbed her eyes. "Come on, Agustus, are you saying you haven't held a baby in your entire life?"

"Between all the endless studying, not really."

"Then… take this pillow. Pull one of your arms close to your body, and bring your other arm in front of it."

"Like this?" Agustus asked as he awkwardly held a pillow close to his body.

"Almost. Now, you're going to want to…"

* * *

**Three Hours in…**

Agustus dropped the pillow. In any other circumstance, it would have just been a normal pillow, but in the context of the role play, it had far more meaning than that.

"I dropped a baby," he muttered.

"Agustus, it's a pillow. Don't overthink it. So you dropped it, big deal. Babies are far harder to drop than that."

"But… what if I drop Orphiucha? What will happen?"

Juni rubbed her brow in annoyance. "Look, Agustus, I know that you're panicking a bit right now, but don't look to me for answers. I don't even have a kid! Just… all your questions will be answered once you start living with your kid. Now, I'm going to take a nap. Don't ask me anything else," she grumbled as she laid down across the bench, her feet going behind Agustus' back.

* * *

It was five hours now. Agustus, unable to quell the unrest in his heart, started pacing back and forth in front of the door. He wanted so badly to run out. He wanted to escape what was happening. But, he knew he had to stand his ground. As a husband and a soon-to-be father, he was not going to leave.

Yet what should he do with this emotion? He had to admit that he was feeling the most in doubt he had ever felt. He was-

"Sir!" a nurse cheerfully announced as she came out, "The delivery was a success! Come on in!"

* * *

All Agustus could do was stare at the small entity in the crib next to his sleeping wife as it too slept. What was he feeling? He couldn't tell. It was like his legs were jelly. His mouth was dry. He couldn't understand what was going on. This was his daughter? How? What miracle created this tiny thing?

"Sir," the nurse said, "Would you like to hold her?"

"What?" Agustus asked, as if he didn't hear her.

The nurse simply sighed, then deftly picked up the baby from the crib without waking her. Finally, she came forward, and Agustus, caught in the corner, was forced to take the living thing. Once the nurse let go, he found that his arms were holding the baby on their own, and the small thing comfortably settled in. All he did now was stare down at the weak thing. The baby.

His child.

"Oh shoot, sorry!" Juni spoke as she came into the room. "I hope I didn't sleep through anythi- Agustus!? Why are you crying?"

Agustus tilted his head in confusion, but was surprised to feel tears on his cheek. "I… I don't know."

His sister came forward. "You're a father now. Maybe that's why… oh! Little Orphiucha woke up!"

As indicated, the baby in his arms opened its eyes and looked up with a scowl, and Agustus was amazed to meet a pair of green snake eyes, just like her mother's. Just as beautiful, too, and the sight of it made Agustus feel right. All the panic, all the nerves that plagued him before disappeared. It was his daughter. It was his Orphiucha.

Pride. Now he knew that that was what he felt. Pride in his daughter. Pride in his wife. Pride in their faunus lineage. Pride in their love. Pride in Juni, even. He felt so proud of his new family, a combination he never knew existed. He was proud of them. So much.

"Orphiucha," he muttered with a smile as he held her up, "My… daughter. My child. I'll never leave you or Adya's side. That's a promise."

* * *

**Modern Day…**

Orphiucha laughed bitterly. "'A promise,' my mother always told me. 'He made a promise.' Yet, where is he now? Gone."

"Well," Liu interrupted, "Where _is_ he now?"

The girl sighed. "I'm getting there."

_I told all about my father to show the reason why I'm so angry at him. It wasn't predictable. He left with no warning. Despite all that he was, he disappeared right in front of our eyes, with one final, empty promise before leaving forever..._

* * *

**Nine years ago…**

"Orphiucha? Orphiucha! Is that a lollipop? Look at me when I'm talking to you, and stop shaking your chair!" Orphiucha's classroom teacher yelled at her. She couldn't help it, though. Today was her eighth birthday. She was going to spend the day with her mom and dad. Dad was going to get off work early. So was Mom. The two would meet her after school, and they would go to the new arcade in town. She was happy beyond belief.

Before the teacher could start ranting about Orphiucha's behavior, the bell rang, indicating it was time for class to end. On instinct, all the children stood up and starting packing their things up.

"Hey Orphiucha," her short, human friend asked, "Do you want to walk home together?"

Orphiucha shook her head as she put her backpack on. "Sorry, but I have to leave fast! Mom and Dad are doing something with me today!"

"Aww, okay," the friend responded, "Bye bye!"

"Bye!" Orphiucha said with a smile while running out the door, just before the teacher tried to approach her about her lollipop eating. She didn't have the time. She had to get home before her stomach burst from excitement. Unfortunately, the narrow hallways were already packed with groups of kids. She was thankful then that the entrance was just a few classrooms from her own class, though. She squeezed through the groups, some of whom moved away after seeing her eyes while others would stay their ground or even try to push her. However, Orphiucha used the skills Aunt Juni taught her and was able to get through without getting hurt, eventually making it to the entrance.

Soon, she made it out, and shielded her eyes as the sun's rays tried to attack her unaccustomed eyes. With a squint, Orphiucha determined where her path home was, and took it. She was practically running. It was the only way her emotions would let her move. She wanted to get home.

That was, until three boys with shaved heads got in front of her way.

"Hey, snake," the leader of the three said, "Where you going?"

Orphiucha sighed as she stopped. "I'm not in the mood to play today."

"You think we're playing? We're going to make you pay for what you did to us, snake."

"I didn't even hurt you guys!"

"You embarrassed us in front of everyone! We couldn't even hurt you. But now, we've learned how to fight better, and we're gonna make you pay, you dirty faunus!"

Orphiucha groaned and whispered to herself, "Most humans are good. Dad said most humans are good." She then looked up back, "Alright, bring it."

Immediately, the three boys ran forward and started swinging punches wildly. Any other kid would get beaten up badly, but Orphiucha had been lightly trained by Aunt Juni, a professional huntress. Dodging was her specialty. The eight-year-old girl moved out of the way slightly as the three older boys all missed their marks. One of them kicked and punched with no regard for those around him. Orphiucha had no issue dodging that, but the boy's lackeys did.

In a mere ten seconds, Orphiucha was running away, and the boys started fighting one another instead. She loved Aunt Juni for helping her with people like that. Her aunt also reminded her that humans were not all bad. After all, she was a human herself. Orphiucha was part-human, too. Her faunus side was just more obvious.

Orphiucha rubbed her eyes, thinking upon their shape for a bit before running again, out of excitement rather than fear.

* * *

The little girl walked into her parents' houses to find the place completely barren. Not a single soul walked inside. All she heard were the creaks from the floor as she walked through the room.

"Mom? Dad?" Orphiucha asked aloud. No one responded.

"Mom?" she said again, "Dad? Hello?"

Without warning, a pair of hands came around her and grabbed her by her torso. Orphiucha nearly yelped, but instead threw her fist up as fast as possible. She felt it hit something, and the hands moved away. Immediately, Orphiucha turned around and got in a defensive position, prepared to face the threat:

Her mom and dad.

"Jeez, Orph," Agustus muttered, rubbing his scruffy chin, "I can't believe your aunt taught you that!"

Mom merely laughed. "Well, it was your idea to surprise her."

"Daddy! Sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry!" Orphiucha promptly apologized while holding him in a hug.

"Orph, it's fine! It's my fault, kiddo. I just thought it would be fun to surprise you on your special day."

Orphiucha looked up. "R-really?"

Dad rubbed her head. "Really. Now finish your homework fast so we can go! Hurry!"

Mom laughed again. "You're both such children."

Agustus waved his hand. "Forget about her, Orph. Let's do your homework together so we can go out! I left work early after all!"

"Gotcha!" Orphiucha said with a nod. Before she could leave, however, the doorbell rang again.

The ring that would change everything.

"I'll get it," Adya proclaimed before walking to the door. Letting her do that, the two others walked to the kitchen table. Orphiucha threw her backpack onto the table while Agustus reached into the cupboard for a coffee cup. With a small pull, the girl brought out her notebook titled "Math" on the front.

"Math homework, huh? That's my specialty!" her dad said while looking over her shoulder.

"Hey, Dad?" she asked while opening the notebook and looking at her homework, "What's three times eight, then?"

"Three times eight? Well, first you gotta-"

Unexpectedly, Adya ran in with a look of panic on her face. "Honey, you have to come out here. It's them."

Agustus chuckled nervously. "What do you mean?"

"Atlas. Them."

Orphiucha's dad's face grew pale. Still confident, though, he rubbed his daughter's hair as he passed by her. "I'll be back, Orph. Work on some questions you know the answer to first."

Orphiucha tried to say something, but her dad already went around the corner into the small entrance hall. In exchange, her mom came in and sat down. However, she barely spoke a word. She didn't try to help Orphiucha with homework or give her a snack. Instead, she simply grabbed her daughter's hand and held on tight.

"Mom?"

"Oh, Orphiucha. Do you remember what I told you about your father?"

"You said… Dad was from another kingdom, right?"

"Well, some people from his kingdom are here."

On cue, Agustus walked past the kitchen into the living room, followed by two big guys in black suits. Just the sight of them gave Orphiucha chills and she too held tightly onto her mother's hand. She didn't know who they were, but they were bad news.

"Orphiucha," Mom muttered, "Why don't you do your homework in your room?"

Typically, she would refuse, but she would do anything to get out of the same area as those two weirdos. With no word, she grabbed her homework, bag, and pencils, and ran down the hall towards her room.

* * *

Two hours had passed. She already finished her homework except for the one question she had trouble with. Now all she did was wait for the trouble down the hall to end. She tossed her stuffed rabbit into the air to pass the time, always catching it to make sure it never hit the ground.

"Mr. Hops," Orphiucha interrogated, "Who are those people in the living room?"

No answer came out of the animal. Not that she expected it to. She rubbed the ears softly, thinking more and more on what was going on downstairs. What was going to happen? Were they going to celebrate her birthday? She was too confused to think about anything else.

With a groan, she put down Mr. Hops and got off her bed. Orphiucha walked over to her wardrobe and opened the door to reveal her mirror. She then stared deep into her snake eyes, a trait no one else seemed to have except her and her mother. The black slits were surrounded by a green iris. It was the only thing that got her attention in this stressful time. Why did she have this? Why did some classmates not like her for it? Mom said it was from her faunus traits, but what made faunus any different from humans? Other than the eyes and seeing a little better in the dark, she couldn't think of anything else. Thinking about this too much made her a little stressed.

So she made a few funny faces to get her hopes up.

Once a knock came from the door, however, she immediately fixed her face and made a sprint and a jump for her bed. Like an athlete, she hopped over the foot of the bed and landed softly on the mattress, just before her father spoke up, "Orph, kiddo. Can I come in?"

"Okay," she quietly pouted.

Upon that consent, the door opened and Dad walked in with a small frown. However, Orphiucha could see more than that. Her father was devastated, but was hiding those true feelings. Seeing that immediately made her stomach drop. He quietly sat down on the bed.

"Dad has some… bad news, kid. Those people downstairs want me to go with them for some work. Remember what I said about Atlas?"

Orphiucha didn't make a single sound in response.

"They're from there, and they want me to go with them. They want Dad to… oversee business. As in, now."

"Why… why do you hate me, Dad? Why are you going on my birthday?" Orphiucha felt tears go down her cheeks and, out of embarrassment, ducked under her covers. She didn't want to see anyone. She didn't want to hear anyone. She just wanted to hide. Hide in the darkest place of her room until those bad men downstairs disappeared.

However, she felt the presence of a hand outside of the covers touch her back. "Orphiucha! I don't hate you! You're my daughter and I love you more than anything!"

"But you're leaving on my birthday! You promised!"

"Orphiucha, I love you and your Mom… and that's exactly why I have to go. But, can I give you one more promise? That when I get back, we'll have an even bigger birthday celebration! We can go to all the arcades in the city! We can play until you get tired. And we'll eat cake until we vomit… then eat some more! How does that sound, Orph?"

The girl pulled the covers off of her and looked up at her father, the man who her hair the color it had. The man who always played with her when he got off work. The man who would do some of her chores when Mom gave her some. She had to place her trust in him.

Orphiucha wiped her eyes and nodded. "Okay, Dad. But don't break your promise!"

Agustus gave a small chuckle and nodded back, then acted as if he grabbed something in the air and stuffed it in his trousers. "I'll put the promise right in my pocket."

The little girl laughed back, but couldn't hold back the persistent sadness. She immediately grabbed onto her dad's torso. "I love you, Dad."

Her dad responded with wrapping his arm around her back and kissing the top of her head. "I love you, too, and I will be back."

She wished this moment would last forever. She wanted to remain in her dad's arms for years without end. The comfort it provided kept the little girl from focusing on the bad things in her life. Any confusion melted, and was replaced with a warm feeling deep in her heart.

If only it could last forever, she thought. If only...

* * *

**One Week Later…**

Orphiucha entered her house with a smile on her face. "Hello? Mom? Is Dad home yet?"

Her mother peaked out from the corner with a shake of her head. "No, Orph, but he'll be home soon!"

The girl groaned. "He's taking forever!"

"Just wait, I know he'll return!"

* * *

**Two Weeks Later…**

"Is Dad home yet?" Orphiucha still had her hopeful smile.

"No, but he'll be home soon!"

* * *

**One Month Later…**

She was still smiling. "Did Dad get home yet?"

"No, but I'm sure he's on his way!"

* * *

**Two Months Later…**

Her smile was gone. "Dad?"

"Not yet." Yet, Mom still smiled.

* * *

**Six Months Later…**

"Is Dad… is he home yet?"

No one answered in the house. Mom was working her new job still.

* * *

_He never came home._

* * *

**One Year Later…**

Orphiucha sat in her small room, a downgrade from their old home. She supposed that must occur when only Mom was working. She sat in the room, silently, looking at her calendar. Today was her ninth birthday, and no one came home to celebrate. Mom, she understood. After all, she had to work more hours now. But Dad? What was a promise anymore? Nothing, it seemed.

She looked over at her dresser, where a few picture frames stood. One had a picture of her and her father. Sluggishly, she walked over towards it and picked up the photo with malice. She looked at her father, white hair, white beard, and in that instant, her love was replaced with a sense of bitter betrayal. Hatred. Disgust. Orphiucha touched her chest trying to grasp onto the emotions, but they were locked inside her ribcage. Was this… was this a human? Was this the truth behind what humanity was, and what faunus dealt with? Angrily, she squeezed onto the photo.

"He's not coming home, is he?" she muttered to herself. She gritted her teeth and, with speed she learned from her Aunt, ripped the photo into hundreds of pieces. She was finished with him. She didn't need him. Orphiucha had herself. She look in the mirror to reinforce this, but shock filled her once again when she saw her hair. Her white hair.

The same as his.

She dashed outside her room, through the creaky floors of the apartment, and slid into the kitchen. Once inside, she looked hastily for anything sharp. Any that could cut this reminder of… him off of her. She threw forks, spoons, and plates all around the floor, until she made it to the fifth drawer. With one swift pull, Orphiucha found the thing she wanted over a pile of other kitchen utensils: scissors.

The girl took a deep breath and stuck her fingers through the scissors' grip. She opened the device and, looking at the sharp blade, hesitantly brought it up. She grabbed a fist-full of hair on her right side and surrounded the clump with the scissors. Some small strands came off with the slide slit of the blades, but the rest remained. She needed to do it. She needed to forget. She needed to throw him out of her life.

She needed to forget. She needed to forget. She needed to forget. She needed to-

Orphiucha took another deep breath and closed her eyes.

Then, the door opened. "Orph? I got home early! Do you want to- AHH!"

* * *

**Modern Day...  
**

Orphiucha clinched her fist so hard, it looked as if she was about to cut her skin with her fingernails. She muttered through her teeth, "He never. Came. Home… Never. That was when I grew to hate both him and humans. I know that I was wrongly quick to hate all of humanity… but my father? It's not so easy to forgive. Especially while he's still in Atlas, living the life of wealth. Thus, I became determined to get a hunter's license so I could go to Atlas and find him."

"And then what?" Ursus asked.

She shrugged. "Maybe talk to him. Maybe slap him. Maybe… do even worse things. One thing is for certain: I want to find him."

Liu sat there trying to process the story he had been told about her and her father's story. Yet, he understood now why she was so hesitant to use her semblance: it came from him. It came from one of the most important people in her life: a man who disappeared. He knew using something like that was not easy.

"I'm… sorry, Orph," Liu responded.

She shook her head. "Don't be. This is my burden. By not protecting you, I threw it on you instead. I should be asking for forgiveness."

The group sat silently. Ursus in one corner, twiddling with his thumbs. Sagitari, looking down. And Liu, sitting there as he tried to think of what to say in the middle of the prominent silence. It looked as if Orphiucha was about to leave, and if he didn't say anything, she would disappear. He couldn't let it happen, but what should he say?

Well, there was one who managed to speak up.

"A burden," Sagitari spoke, "Is something that is inevitably shared between teammates."

"Tari?" Orphiucha questioned.

"Burdens are shared in Team SOUL. Whether it's Ursus' past acquaintances, Liu's inexperience, or your connection with your father, it should all be shared in the team."

"Shared? I thought you wanted to keep our pasts a secret?"

Sagitari looked away. "I know… and I was a crappy leader for doing that. Please, Ursus, Liu, Orphiucha… forgive me for not filling the role of a leader this mission. I would have let Orphiucha leave our team if you two didn't bring us together tonight."

"It's no big deal," Ursus replied, "I didn't want her to leave, after all."

Liu nodded. "R-right!"

Sagitari smiled a little, then stood up and walked to Orphiucha. The faunus flinched back when the team leader reached her hand out. "Can you forgive me?" Sagitari voice cracked as she teared up, "Sister?"

Orphiucha stared for a bit, then smiled back and grabbed her hand in a shake. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."

However, the girl then pulled Sagitari closer and embraced her. "I'm so sorry," she mumbled to her, just barely audible for Ursus and Liu.

Sagitari put her hands around Orphiucha's back and hugged back. "I'm sorry, too."

The two girls, like siblings, made up and kept one another in a sisterly embrace. The sounds of quick breaths from tears came up as often as the two apologized to one another. It was as if the two girls were reuniting in more than just the issue from this trip. It was like they pushed aside problems of their past. As if the promise they made was, in truth, pulling them apart from one another.

"Such a touching moment," a familiar voice appeared, making Liu jump. Orphiucha and Sagitari quickly pulled back and got into a defensive stance towards the sound. Out from the shadow of the airship came Kang Xiu, and the sight of him made everyone ease up. He was carrying a folder in his hand.

He continued, "Sorry, but I heard you plan on looking for your father, Orphiucha?"

She nodded. "I know he's out there. I have to find him."

Kang then opened the folder. "After meeting you on the first day of our assignment, I got a bit curious. So every night since then, I've been doing research on your father, trying to find where he went. I did know him for a time, after all, so I was a bit worried."

"So that's why you're always waking up later?" Liu asked.

"And? Is he in Atlas?"

Kang shook his head. "No. He's in Vale."

The four literally jumped in shock. "What?!" Orphiucha loudly interjected.

Liu's father read his folder. "Nearly nine years ago, he returned back to Vale. Even after a ship crash, records state that he arrived on land safely. The facts get a little vague, but from what I've searched, he made it to a town called Dandelion."

"He… he's alive?" Orphiucha marveled.

"I don't see anything that says he's dead."

The girl looked around a bit, paced a few steps, and then continued questioning once she regained eye contact. "Where is Dandelion?"

Kang shook his head. "Sorry, Orphiucha, but I can't let you go on your own."

Orphiucha stepped forward. "You don't understand this, sir. I need to do this. I need to confront my father and find out why he never came back."

"Dad," Liu added, "Let her go… No, let us go. Please."

"I will follow her as well," Sagitari agreed.

Ursus nodded.

Kang, met with such a close team relationship, smiled. "I never expected you'd have a team this strong, Liu. But, don't think I'm keeping you from going. I just said I won't let you go on your own."

"So does that mean…?" Liu asked.

"Yes, Cam, Sagino, and I are coming along!"

The three kids cheered while Orphiucha gave a small smile.

Kang turned around and walked towards his tent. "I'll give you thirty minutes," he spoke, "Pack your things and then we'll head out."

"But what about our mission?" Orphiucha added in another question.

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

"But it's night," Ursus added.

"Then drink some coffee."

* * *

The group was back in the air, flying over the forest that they had grown so accustomed to over this past week. It was practically their second home, and they had to say goodbye to it. Liu merely stared out the window at the greenery below with a small bittersweet feeling in his heart. It was just a forest, but it was where he gained some of his strength. He even felt like waving towards the ground.

"Crazy time, huh?" Ursus initiated.

"Yeah. Now we're traveling across the continent."

Ursus nodded and looked out the large, horizontal window as well. Perhaps he was feeling the same sadness as well, Liu pondered. With a sigh, he closed his eyes.

"Thanks, Liu."

Immediately, Liu opened his eyes and looked at Ursus confusingly. "What do you mean?"

"If it wasn't for you, our team wouldn't have gotten back together. So, thanks."

"You helped as well."

"You started it, though."

Liu shook his head. "Even so, I just did what Sagitari or you would have done."

"Would I have done that?" Ursus asked with a genuine look of deep thought on his face.

"What, you don't even know yourself?"

"Who knows who they are?" Ursus asked.

"I didn't know you were a philosopher!"

Ursus chuckled with his deep voice.

Before they could speak again, a loud siren came on, getting the two's attention. It confounded them, but Liu took this to mean they had to get to his father. Swiftly, he jumped off his chair, with Ursus following behind. The two then made a mad dash into the hallway, all the way down towards the bridge. What could it be, Liu wondered. With a push on the last door at the end of the path, the two entered in the wide bridge where Cam, Sagino, Kang, Orphiucha, and Sagitari stood. They all seemed to have a look of uncertainty on their faces.

"What's going on?" Liu inquired.

His father looked up from the radio at the front of the bridge. "It's Dandelion, Liu. It's under attack from grimm."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for reading this chapter of RWBY: Revenant! I hope the story has caught your attention. If you like it, why don't you give a follow, a favorite, or a review to keep yourself updated? The story is still kicking, after all! I'm also excited for this next chapter... though it may take a while. It's one of those rather long chapters, maybe even longer than this one. Anyways, have a good night/day and God bless!)


	34. Chapter 34: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 34: Before – Rescue Mission

Once again, Liu took a few breaths, then forced his semblance into his scarf. He stretched it and thinned it down a few times. Then, once he felt comfortable, took a look at the can on top of the cargo crate and shot his scarf outwards. He tried so hard to grab the can, putting all his concentration and effort into the flying, metallic cloth. Yet, once it reached the can, it simply tapped the aluminum before falling limp. Liu groaned when he saw the failure and pulled his semblance back into his body.

"Still having trouble?" Cam asked from behind. It make Liu jump a bit, but he quickly settled back down.

"Yeah," Liu replied, "I can't for the life of me grab things with it. It just doesn't seem to want to listen."

Cam rubbed his chin. "It seems like you fixed your old visualization process, but created another."

"What do you mean?"

Cam pulled a small blade out from his back and spun a string around the hilt. "Look at this for a second."

He then shot his string-sword mix towards the can and sunk the blade into the aluminum. Once it was inside, he pulled and grabbed the flying can with his other hand. "You seem to think that your scarf works like this. That your scarf will magically wrap around the can and then you can pull it back."

The bodyguard then walked back to the crate and put the can on the top before turning back to Liu.

"But, your semblance really works like this." Upon the end of that sentence, Cam then grabbed the can with his arm and lifted it up, anticlimactically.

"Uh, didn't you say that my semblance doesn't work like a limb?"

Cam shook his head. "It doesn't… but it does."

Liu scratched his head. "I don't get it."

"How about this? Say someone can pick things up with their mind. Do they pick things up like they're objects? No. But do they also grab things as if they're on strings? No. They have complete control of what object they grab and how it moves.

"I think your semblance is the same, albeit in a limited area inside your scarf."

"Huh," Liu huffed. "I still don't really understand it, Uncle Cam."

The uncle smiled and patted Liu on the shoulder. "Then don't worry about it. When we go to fight the grimm, just use your scarf as much as you're used to."

"Ok-"

Out of nowhere, the airship jolted, making the two almost fall on the ground as the red alert went off. Cam quietly cursed to himself while running over to the window and looking out.

"We got some fliers," he dryly spoke, "Lancers, we call them. Bug-like grimm. They're attacking the ship."

"What do we do?" Liu asked, wrapping his scarf around his left arm and pulling his sword out of his sheath.

"We gotta get to the bridge, now."

* * *

"I never thought the grimm situation in the area was this bad," Kang spoke to himself, "Lancers, Beowolves, Ursas, you name it. You don't see attacks this bad."

Cam and Liu made it to the bridge just after Kang activated his semblance and shocked the Lancers away from the airship. It would give them temporary rest on the way to the town. That being said, it didn't make the situation any less tense. Sagitari was squeezing a pair of hand grippers while squatting, both of which were at a far faster pace than her usual exercises. Ursus kept checking his spear, pulling the blade out, observing and touching the metal chain that connected both ends, then putting it back before doing it once again. Orphiucha, the most nervous of them all, simply paced around while her eyes focused on the floor. Even Liu's father thoroughly observed an overhead map of Dandelion with concern alongside Sagino. Liu himself felt his nerves make his hand shake slightly, even though he refused to stay out of the battle.

Besides, who could blame them? This was Team SOUL's first real fight. Not a simple non-lethal tussle with humans, like when they saved Ursus. Not a hunt against a small number of grimm. No, this was a full-on battle. Hundreds of grimm against three hunters and four trainees. This was a battle where even the slightest misstep could result in death. It was only fair that they felt some amount of fear.

"You okay?" Cam interrupted Liu's train of thought with a tap on his back. Liu shook his head and looked back.

"Uh, yeah."

Suddenly, the airship jolted again, and the seven in the bridge struggled to remain standing. Once stable, Kang unexpectedly slammed his fist on the desk.

"Dammit! How desperate are these things that they'll risk their lives dodging lightning just to attack us?"

"What's the plan, Dad?" Liu spoke out loud to get his attention and calm him down.

His father regained composure and nodded. "Dandelion is just on the horizon, so we'll be there in half an hour or so. If I could leave you kids in the airship I would, but the minute I leave, the lightning stops. So, here's what we'll do: We go by three's. Cam, Sagitari, and Orphiucha, you three will clear out the north half. Sagino, Ursus, and Liu, you three will work on the South half."

"What about you, sir?" Sagitari asked.

"I'll be keeping the air safe with my semblance and make sure no other grimm enter the city. We have hundreds in there already. If there are any more, we won't stand a chance. Any questions?"

No one replied. No one wanted to deal with anything else, so they kept from asking any more questions.

"Good," Kang smiled. "Let's go, Team SOUL!"

* * *

How many days had it been? Ten? Twenty? You start to forget how time moves when grimm attack your town.

Terrace looked outside his secret window to gaze at the street in front of his home. Somehow, the town's electricity remained on, because the lights still flickered outside, illuminating a pair of bear-like grimm walking beside one another. The screech on birds could also be heard nearby, but he knew it was no mere flock in the air. Grimm. Grimm surrounded every side of his house. Yet, his wasn't a special one. Every building in the town practically had a handful of grimm running around it. He was thankful they never tried to enter, or that they had yet to realize there was one more human that hadn't evacuated.

But, that time would come soon. Terrace had one more day of rations left. After that, he had to either escape the town or starve, the former of which he knew he couldn't do. He had to stay in Dandelion, for the sake of someone he had yet to meet.

But what could he do? He was in his later years, so he was losing the strength he had gained in his youth. He had a bad leg. Any attempt on raiding another house in the town would be a sure death. Terrace scratched his wrinkled, shaved head and sighed. He couldn't die, but what choice did he have? He was-

A sudden slam of thunder made him jump out of his wooden chair and nearly yelp before he grabbed his mouth. The strange arrival of a storm surprised him, considering there wasn't a single cloud in the sky the entire day. Quietly, he opened his secret window once again and looked up towards the sky. A strange circle of clouds formed, just directly above Dandelion. In the center of it was a flashing light in the night sky. An airship. Could it be hunters? The military?

Terrace prayed and hoped that a miracle was occurring before him.

* * *

"Liu," Orphiucha's voice cracked, getting Liu's attention and pulling him out of his nervous finger tapping.

"O-Orph! You scared me!" Liu chuckled.

The girl didn't respond with her own laugh. She kept her head down with a frown. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm just checking to make sure I have all I need, you know? Sword. Check. Scarf. Check. All that stuff, you know?" he nervously answered.

"You're scared."

Liu gave a small laugh and scratched his head. "You saw through me that fast, huh? Yeah, I'm terrified. Fighting this many grimm… it scares me. But, I won't run away. I promised myself I'm going to help Team SOUL, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

The other team member rubbed her hands together. "Liu, I'm scared, too."

"Of grimm?"

She shook her head.

"Of… your father?"

She nodded.

"Why?"

The half-faunus looked out the window. "What happened to him? Is he alive? Will he remember me? Does he have a new life? And… what will I do afterwards? All my life, I've fought to become a huntress for the sake of finding him. For the sake of facing him one more time. Now that that time is coming soon, what will I do?"

"Will you run, then?"

She shook her head.

"Then I know you'll see this through. Fear is… scary, but I know you aren't the type of girl to hesitate. You're Orphiucha, one of the strongest girls I know."

"You think too much of me."

Liu shook his head. "I don't think so. But, if you are hesitating, you have Team SOUL. You have me, Ursus, and Sagitari. We'll always have your back, Orph. Trust me."

Orphiucha finally gave a small smile. "I'll... trust you. Thanks, Liu."

"Good. Now, let's go kill some grimm."

* * *

The seven looked down from the cargo bay entrance. The heavy wind from this height proved strong, but hunters and huntresses could withstand such strength.

"I'll stop the lightning! When I do, we jump! We should be low enough that our aura will protect us from the fall!"

"Are you serious!?" Liu yelled back over the sound of the wind.

"Put your aura in your feet, Liu! That should keep you safe! It's just like your first trial at Beacon!" Sagino yelled.

"I'll try!" Liu closed his eyes and reached into his aura, a completely different feeling from his semblance. It was far easier to control, especially due to his training of these past few months. Finally, Liu sent it all down to his feet, which strengthened his durability in the area.

"Let's go! One, two, three!"

At the end of his count, Kang released his semblance and the lightning stopped. He jumped out of the cargo bay door, followed by Sagitari, Cam, Sagino, and Ursus. Liu stood there, frozen. What if his aura didn't work? What if it broke? His fear came back.

Then, it was blown away as Orphiucha held his hand, perhaps both to comfort him, as well as her. She looked into his eyes and nodded. "Together," her mouth made out.

Liu, his fear dissipated, nodded and, together with Orphiucha, jumped out of the ship.

At first, the wind whipped Liu and his clothes around so hard that was flipping around helplessly in the air. However, thanks to Orphiucha's help, as well as his training these past few months, Liu managed to re-balance himself and focus on the ground, which grew in size as he fell. For a small town, Dandelion was actually quite large and advanced. The lights still illuminated the concrete streets, a rarity in rural towns. The city walls must have also stretched at least a mile on each side. It was going to be difficult clearing out the entire city, but they had to try.

The group was falling towards the center of Dandelion, Liu could see. It was an empty town square with no buildings, which was perfect for landing. Liu aimed his feet down towards the stone, constantly checking to make sure his aura was situated where it should be, then in a snap, his feet crashed into the stone beside Ursus and Sagino, creating a tiny crater surrounding him. The sound of the crack accompanying the dull pain in his feet made chills run down his spine, but it didn't stop the grimm from immediately surrounding the surprise attack. Perhaps a hundred or so of the total group came to greet them. Beo-wolf's, Ursa's, and even a few Lancers came, all growling and assessing the strength of the group.

"Don't give them a chance to attack first!" Kang yelled. He pulls his big sword off his back.

"What he said!" Sagino yelled as he slammed his bigger sword on the ground.

"Indeed," Cam agreed, pulling a grenade and a dagger out from behind him like magic.

"Don't worry about us, sir. We're Team SOUL!" Sagitari confidently replied with a grin. She put her brass knuckles onto her fists and got into a fighting stance as her muscles grew a little bit, though not as much as usual.

"We'll fight our hardest!" Ursus' deep voice muttered. He swung his giant spear out from his long sheathe.

"Thank you for everything, you guys!" Orphiucha spoke aloud as she pulled her batons out and hit them together, changing their colors to red and blue.

Liu wrapped his scarf around his left arm and pulled his sword out.

"Let's do this," he muttered to himself.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading this chapter of RWBY: Revenant. I was thinking of making this the final chapter in the Orphiucha arc... but it would have made this chapter the largest one by a long-shot. Instead, I decided to separate this chapter and the next, so tune in for the final chapter of the Orphiucha charater arc! Anyways, bye bye and God bless!)


	35. Chapter 35: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 35: After – After the Battle

Josephine and Sagino sat in the white hospital room beside a completely conscious Kang. He had some cuts and broken bones, but he looked livelier than ever. He was even doing work on his tablet. It had been less than a day since they picked him up off the side of the lake. In less than a day, he had gone from a life-threatening condition to the current one now. Seeing this recovery speed, Josephine was fairly confident Kang wasn't human.

If he wasn't human, though, then what was the thing that beat him?

"Any information on the searches, Sagino?" Kang asked.

"Nope. We know Liu is heading towards the Capital for some reason, but we haven't found him at all on the paths from here to there."

"Expand your searches. Maybe he's hiding in a town."

Sagino nodded. Yet an awkward silence took the three without pause, excluding the taps on Kang's tablet. It was apparent to them: they had failed, but no one had to courage to bring it up. They didn't want to face the truth of this failure, or the fact that Kang, one of the strongest men in Mistral, lost to his son. It took more than a moment before Sagino, the most boisterous of the three, quietly spoke. "Si- Look, Kang, what happened down there?"

The general put down his tablet and sighed. "I saw more than just Liu down there."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw… Soul," Kang recalled.

"Soul? Isn't that the name Liu gives himself?" Josephine brought up.

"Yes, but Soul… is more than just a name. Soul is an identity of vengeance that Liu gave form. It's… evil. That's all I know."

"Evil? Liu?" Sagino chuckled nervously, which Kang responded with a serious glare.

"There was a moment when I was sure I knocked out Liu. His body laid on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Then, he got back up with this… vicious smile that gave me shivers down my spine. His eyes, too. They were hazy, yet concentrated on one thing: me. Since I was standing in the way between him and revenge, I was just another target to take down. And his... speech. He kept repeating words like a maniac. I can tell you right now, that was not Liu.

"So what? You're going to excuse Liu for what he's done? Stealing, killing, impersonation? Are you gonna say it wasn't Liu? That it was Soul?" Josephine felt anger grow in her being. Why did this boy get special attention after all these things he's done? She hated it.

She had to ask herself, though, why she cared as much as she did.

Despite her anger, though, Kang remained calm and responded. "I didn't mean any of that. Liu is indeed the one making the choices, but… I know that what I saw was not Liu. What I saw there was something else entirely, as if he was possessed. It was… It wasn't him, Josephine. That's all I know."

Josephine squeezed her fists, but nodded. "Then if you'll excuse me."

Unable to contain her anger at her general's ignorance, she left the room.

* * *

"That's quite a replacement you chose for Cam, Kang," Sagino joked as the girl left the room.

"She acts like she doesn't care, yet she has a stronger sense of justice than you or I. Sheesh, I wonder if I should be harder on Liu."

"You sure?"

Kang shook his head. "I don't know, honestly. Liu's not fully in there, Sagino. I'm telling you, there's something inside the boy. Something that isn't him. Something that's pushing him towards this path. Because of that, I can't give up on him."

Sagino nodded "You mean _we _can't give up on him. He's practically my nephew, after all."

Kang grinned. "Thanks, man. And Josephine… well, I think she'll understand soon enough."

"I dunno. The girl's as stubborn as you when you were her age!"

The two laughed, but it did nothing to ease the tension. The tension that came out of an uncertainty in their search. Of an uncertainty in Liu. Of an uncertainty in his revenge. Of an uncertainly in his identity.

And of a fear in Soul.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant, and sorry for this short after chapter! I just felt I should add in an after chapter to make sure the number of before and after chapters aren't too far off from one another. So, yeah... I don't have anything to say, ha. Thanks for reading, see you, and God bless!)


	36. Chapter 36: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 36: Before – The Battle for Dandelion

The first one to attack was, of course, Sagitari, followed by Sagino. Like a rocket, the two sprinted in opposite directions towards the encircling grimm. Before the rest even moved, Sagitari had already slammed an uppercut into a beowolf's chin, while Sagino swung his massive sword through five separate grimm. Then, the rest of the crew caught up: Ursus stomped his foot onto the ground, practically causing an earthquake as the ground under the outer perimeter of the grimm lifted up and launched the creatures into the air. This gave Kang an opening, and he reacted by lifting his sword into the air and summoning lightning to destroy the helpless grimm. Orphiucha had already charged forward, dancing between the numbers of grimm as she wacked them with her dust-enhanced batons. Cam, too, fought on the offense, using a plethora of weapons and explosives that he seemed to magically pull of out thin air. Just after stabbing a lancer with a knife, he then threw a grenade behind his back, which obliterated a group of seven grimm.

Liu, not willing to give up like he used to, injected his scarf with his semblance and ran towards a particularly distracted wolf-like grimm. Inspired with the chance to test it out, Liu summoned the semblance in his scarf, then shot it forward with the hopes of grabbing the grimm's neck. Thnking upon Cam's words, he tried to curve the end of the scarf just before it touched the monster, whose attention slowly found its way towards Liu. It felt like slow motion to him, but Liu couldn't help but grin as he saw the scarf curve around, moving across the top of the beast's neck. Finally, the scarf found itself drapped across the grimm's neck.

Yet, the scarf did not wrap around its prey. It merely laid on its back.

Liu, not realizing he would get this far, started to panic when he saw the grimm merely brush the metallic scarf off itself. Finished with watching, the monster then made a mad dash for Liu. At first, the kid trembled like before. He felt as if he returned to his old self, who lived in fear and regret. But Liu was not that person anymore.

Seeing danger coming towards him, he unconsciously pulled his scarf back, which automatically wrapped itself around his arm. He then ran up to meet the beowolf, who leapt forward with a predictable diagonal lunge. Liu ducked under the claws, feeling the breeze of the wind the came from the strength of the monster's arm, then came up with his own upwards slash across the beast's belly. Finally, Liu stabbed his sword down, directly into the monsters chest. The beowolf grimm had a small look of terror before disintegrating.

"My first… grimm," Liu panted. What a strange feeling, killing a grimm on his own. He couldn't sort through the emotions.

And he literally couldn't, as another beowolf grimm pulled itself towards Liu.

Using gymnastic moves he learned from Orphiucha, Liu jumped over the attack from the grimm and brought his sword down onto the top of its head. Another one, disintegrated just like that. The fluidity of his movements and his success in fighting so far inspired him and he couldn't help but smile.

Unable to contain the pride he was feeling, he turned towards the others to brag. "I just killed two grimm!" he yelled over the sounds of carnage.

"That's great, Liu," Ursus mindlessly muttered as he stabbed his spear through five grimm.

"I'm on number fifteen," Orphiucha spoke back. She continued to take more down, wrapping her legs around the neck of a giant ursa as she whacked its head with her batons until it finally started to disintegrate.

Sagitari didn't respond, but Liu's pride vanquished when he saw her practically killing a grimm each second.

"Keep aware of your surroundings, Liu!" Kang yelled. He was shocking dozens of lancers with his semblance each second.

"I guess I've still got some more training to do," Liu murmured to himself. He then found himself forcefully thrown back into battle when a grimm lunged for him. Unprepared, he instead utilized his semblance-infused scarf and backhanded the charging beast. The scarf successfully made contact and the grimm went flying from the impact while Liu's own arm went in the opposite direction. Thankfully, his training this past week kept his semblance from returning back into his body, and his scarf remained enhanced, though the usual pins-and-needles feeling in his arm occurred as a result of the attack.

He couldn't rest, though, because three more grimm caught their sights on him. It made Liu sigh.

"Guess I can't get a moment's peace, can I?"

* * *

Terrace was positive. With the grimm running down the street towards the town center and the figures he saw jumping out from the airship, he knew hunters or huntresses had arrived. Seems his prayers had been answered. He stood up and grabbed a box of matches he hadn't used yet for fear of being found. However, that was exactly what he wanted now.

The man limped as fast as he could towards the fireplace, opened the vent, and, after a few swipes, got a match to light. Terrace crumbled up a few pages of his journal with his other hand, then touched the vulnerable paper with his small match. As expected, the paper lit and once it was large enough, the man threw it into the fireplace, where a few dusty logs lay.

Finished, he sat down at his usual seat, though he pulled a gun out of his desk drawer. This plan was a gambit where everything was at stake. Either the hunters find him, or the grimm do. It was a gamble no one would dare take, especially considering Terrace had never been a betting man his entire life.

Well, better late than never, he supposed.

* * *

The grimm numbers had finally started to subside. By this time, however, Liu had only killed around ten of them. Everyone else had probably killed fifty each. It made him a little depressed, but he knew he still had a long way to go.

"Alright, listen up," Liu's father said as he slashed through a grimm, "We're going to start splitting up. Remember, Sagino will be with Ursus and Liu while Cam will be with Sagitari and Orphiucha. Any questions?"

No one responded.

"Good. Now let's-"

"Hey, general! Check out that!" Sagino yelled, pointing at a cloud of smoke in the nearby distance.

The atmosphere suddenly became far tenser. There was a live civilian still in the town. This became less a hunting mission and more a rescue one. One false move, and someone innocent would die.

"Here's the new-"

At the worst possible time, the ground shook heavily and the group struggled to stay balanced. In that moment, all of the grimm had a moment of inspiration so intense, they were practically dancing.

No, they were worshiping something.

"What's going on?" Liu muttered.

Suddenly, a scorpion tail came through the ground under Ursus. Luckily, the boy wasn't stabbed, but the tail extended so quickly, he had no chance to get away. Ursus helplessly held onto the strange tail from the ground as it flipped around and around. It flailed around harder and harder, trying desperately to shake off the boy as he tried to desperately hold on.

"Hold on, Ursus!" Sagitari yelled while sprinting towards him.

"I'm… trying," his voice responded back. Both his hands were fiercely latched onto the bulbous end of the tail. Even as the tail slammed onto the ground, Ursus still held on. He couldn't let go.

Then, his left hand slipped.

The thing, feeling this, gave one more swing of its tail, and the boy made a worrisome face as his arms lost its grip. Like that, Ursus was launched at an incredible distance, even over a few building roofs. His silhouette kept shrinking at an alarming rate.

"Ursus!" Liu yelled. But his voice was too late; the boy was gone. There was no time to worry, either, as the ground shook once more and the owner of the tail finally broke out from the ground: It was a scorpion grimm, of course. A giant one, at that. The thing spun around towards the group and snapped its claws in anticipation. It was ready to kill.

"Sagitari. Get Ursus and then go save that civilian," Kang calmly spoke, still focusing his attention on controlling lightning, "Sagino, go behind her. Cam, can you take on this scorpion with Liu and Orphiucha?"

"It'll be tough," Cam spoke while stabbing a set of daggers into a bear grimm until it disintegrated. "I think we can do it, though."

"Sir, shouldn't I stay and fight?" Sagitari asked.

"No. You're the strongest fighter of the team, so I'll be fine with you leaving here. I can't say the same for the others. Now go!"

Sagitari hesitated after looking at her teammates, but nodded. She then activated her semblance, increasing the muscle mass of her body and sprinted down the street towards the scorpion. The scorpion tried to attack her, but she was far too fast and managed to use its head as a platform for leaping. Afterwards, it slammed its claws into the ground in rage.

"What a girl!" Sagino laughed. He followed right behind her, using his sword as a vaulting pole in order to jump over the scorpion. Again, the beast tried to attack the man, but he moved just out of its grasp, infuriating the monster even more.

"Liu? Orphiucha? How are you feeling?" Kang asked. His focus on taking out the flying grimm made it impossible for him to join to fight. Liu and Orphiucha, then, stood behind his back, weapons aimed at the giant grimm while the smaller numbers danced around it. Cam came around and walked between the two.

"I'm… a little worried," Liu admitted, "But as long as I'm with Orph, we can't lose! That's the Team SOUL way!"

Orphiucha nodded. "You got that right! As long as I'm here, we're gonna win."

That last sentence made Liu smile. She was back to normal.

"Eyes forward," Cam interrupted, "The beast is coming!"

* * *

Ursus tried to rattle his brain after getting his bearings back. Luckily, he had managed to keep himself from getting hurt too much, but it was far from a perfect landing. He crashed into the side of a clock tower and used his aura from taking mortal damage, but it wasn't enough. When he landed on the ground, he could feel a burning sensation in his ribs, as well as numbness in his shoulder. It was dislocated.

He slammed his shoulder back into place on the side of a building, gritting his teeth through the pain. With that done, he looked down both sides of the road. One path led towards a few destroyed houses while the other led towards a few bent street lamps. It was crazy, he thought, how much of a ghost town this place had become. Though, getting attacked by grimm would do that. There were crushed houses and trashed streets, yes, but it was far from indecipherable. It still looked like a town. It only went to show how a grimm's hatred was exclusively towards people, not what was created by them.

"Speak of the Devil," Ursus muttered. Grimm came from both sides of the street and, catching a whiff of his smell, clamored towards where the kid was standing. He pulled his spear out from the ground and looked around. There had to be thirty grimm, all of whom were of the beo-wolf breed. Perhaps they were from the same pack, but it didn't matter. Ursus was not in the condition to battle this many. He held onto his spear and started pulling out the blade connected by the chain. If he could take them out from long-distance, he could win.

The fastest of the group came close. Ursus jumped backwards and threw his spear's shaft down. The chain followed and the immensely heavy blade went through the monsters head and forced it to disappear into dust.

Another came forward. Ursus touched the ground, activating his semblance and shooting it into the air. He then sent his blade barreling in the air and watched as it went through the grimm's chest. Another one, disintegrated.

Ursus turned around, catching another one before it got too close. He brought his spear back around, letting the chain sweep the legs of the grimm. He finally swung his spear's shaft up, then brought it down. The giant blade at the end came down and implanted itself into the beo-wolf's back. Just more dust floating in the wind.

Ursus turned around, bringing his shaft back in preparation for the fourth one.

The fourth one was right in front of him.

Ursus tried to jump backwards, but the grimm was too fast and used its enormous claws to slash his chest. Ursus yelled in pain, and the wound alongside his rib and shoulder damages forced him to fall onto his knees. He gripped his chest, feeling the blood trickle down his fingers. It wasn't deep, though that just meant the grimm wanted to play around before actually killing Ursus. The demented smile on the beo-wolf seemed to prove this.

Ursus slumped his head down. So this was the end, he thought. Strange. He thought he'd be in total fear when he died. Instead, it just felt like he lost any sense of hope. Some would say this feeling was worse, though. Perhaps this was a better fate for him, he thought. After all, he became a hunter to make friends, not to help people. Perhaps this was punishment for his selfishness. Ursus closed his eyes. He was ready to accept this.

_Accept? As if_, his mind suddenly thought. His thoughts went to Sagitari. To Orphiucha. To Liu. No, he had people he wanted to help. He had friends. Why would he die before paying them back for all they had done for him? Ursus opened his eyes and looked back up with a newfound fury. The grimm was in motion to swipe his face at the same time. It would be a deeper wound that would truly deal mortal damage to Ursus.

Ursus grabbed the grimm's claw with one hand and stopped it.

* * *

**A few days prior…**

"C'mon, Ursus? Can't you do more than that?" Sagino taunted. Ursus tried, yet again, to attack from a distance. The giant kid released his chain then launched it forward. He was enacting a new plan.

And yet again, Sagino wrapped the chain around his own hulking sword and pulled the spear out of the kid's hand.

Ursus tried to use his semblance after losing his grip, but Sagino was far too quick. The bodyguard dashed forward before Ursus even touched the ground and kicked him in the gut. Ursus was practically sent flying by the impact and landed a good twenty feet away on his back.

"That's the fifth time you've tried to attack me like that. Can't you use anything other than your chain or your semblance? It's a spear!"

Ursus coughed and sat back up. "I… can't."

"You can't? Yeah, right!"

Ursus frowned. "I'm serious!"

Sagino tilted his head in confusion, then sat down beside him. "Okay. Tell me what's bugging you about it, kid. Why do you always try to use your chain to fight rather than the actual spear?"

He was a bit worried to share it, but didn't want to end up like Sagitari or Orphiucha. After facing his past a few weeks ago, he felt it was okay to share. "When I fight with my fists… things happen. It's like I go wild."

Sagino laughed. "You? Wild? You're milder than anything else!"

"I'm serious, sir! I… A few years ago at my old school, there was a kid named Jazz. He tricked me and tried to use me to get what he wanted, and when he found out that I wasn't as useful as he hoped, he tried to beat me up. At that moment… I snapped. I took out the kid's entire gang with my fists. After what happened, I became resolved to avoid any sort of close confrontation in fear that I may snap again."

Ursus expected Sagino to laugh or pick on him yet again. He expected Sagino to tell him to "man up, or shut up," then force him back into training. Instead, Ursus felt a pat on his shoulder, which felt a little awkward.

"I know all too well that sort of rage," Sagino calmly, and uncharacteristically, spoke, "I know how emotion can be a curse. How it can control you. Truly.

"When I was your age, I too had that issue. I was the one who got my team in trouble because I never took the reins of my thoughts. I fought anyone who would do so much as give a bad look to me or my team. It surprises still how patient Cam and Kang were with me."

"So, what did you do about it?" Ursus asked.

Sagino shook his head. "Ursus, you need to look at it from a different perspective. That rage, it's not evil. It's not a curse. No, it's up to you how you use it. What did I do about it, you ask? I used it to protect my friends instead. Heck, I still use it to this day. Sure, I may go a little overboard, but it has helped others far more than harmed them."

"I need to use it to protect my friends?"

"In the end, it's up to you how to use it. But, Ursus, you'd do well to remember how important your friends are. Are they so important that you use this rage? That's for you to decide."

Ursus nodded. "I'll think about it."

"Good. Now, let's get back to sparring!" Sagino yelled as he slammed his sword down on Ursus, who managed to just barely escape the attack.

* * *

Ursus felt the same rage he felt when Jazz had betrayed him all those years back. He felt those intense emotions flow through his body. Yet, it was different. This bloodlust had an aim. He wanted the blood of those who would harm Team SOUL. Ursus stood back up and grinned as the grimm tried viciously to get out of the hunter's grip.

Then, Ursus let out a strong punch. One that rivaled the strongest of Sagitari's enhanced strikes. As a result, the grimm shot past its friends and landed a good distance away before disintegrating.

Ursus smiled. He never felt something like this before. All this emotion he kept bottled up for such a long time came out at once, and all he felt was rage and bloodlust. Yet, he still had the reins. He still had control. It was so odd, but it didn't stop him from welcoming the feelings. Instead, he focused it all on these grimm. For if one survived, Sagitari, Orphiucha, and Liu would run a higher risk of dying.

Recharged, Ursus let out a battlecry that stunned the grimm around him. He took this as his chance. Before any of them tried to attack, the hunter already grabbed one of them by the legs and swung the grimm around. After hitting a lamp with the helpless monster, he threw it into the others.

Finally, the mob started attacking. Ursus grabbed his spear from the ground and jumped in the air. Focusing on one grimm, he threw the spear at the ground, impaling the selected grimm, then landed on another. He threw a plethora of punches at those around him, and the grimm, perhaps too stunned to respond, took the hits. Some even disintegrated from the force he output. Afterwards, he pulled his spear back out of the ground, and swung it around. Those unfortunate monsters that stood close towards him were helplessly turned into dust as the spear's blade slashed and stabbed through them. The ones that stood further away were questioning whether or not they should charge forward or run away.

Too bad Ursus would take no survivors.

Finished toying with his spear, Ursus dashed toward another group of beo-wolves and started doing the same thing. He even took a few hits in return, but his emotional state numbed any sort of pain he felt. He would even take a slash across his face, but instead slam his fist into the attacking grimm's gut before cutting through it with his spear. Another tried to do the same thing, but Ursus was faster and grabbed the claw with his open hand. This grimm tried to escape his grip like the first one, but Ursus was far too strong to let it leave. Not willing to let their kin die, another five grimm came forward to bring aid. Ursus grinned and clinched his fist even harder before throwing the beo-wolf he was holding over his head and into the approaching beasts. With the set of grimm still fazed, Ursus jumped in the air and brought his spear down on the pile. The entire spear went through six of them before touching the concrete ground, and in an instant, those final few grimm disintegrated.

Well, all except for one.

Ursus turned towards the last grimm, a single beo-wolf who stood just ten feet away. It was practically shaking with fear.

"Strange," Ursus spoke to the thing even though he knew it didn't understand language, "I didn't know grimm could feel fear. Guess you learn something new every day."

"What I want to know," he continued, "Is do grimm feel pain?"

Ursus jolted forward, faster than the grimm could react, and grabbed it by its neck. The thing struggled and even tried to strike at him, but Ursus used his other hand to keep from getting hurt. The red eyes looked directly at Ursus in hatred, but it could not utilize its anger. Not like Ursus.

Finally, Ursus clinched his fist with a force strong enough to destroy the grimm's throat. Unable to breath, the beast began its short dust transformation, and the wind released it from Ursus' grip.

Being the last one remaining, Ursus laughed. He felt so… happy. Like the deed he had done ensured that his friends would live longer. It was so weird facing this part of him, but it truly was for the better. Thankfully, it was temporary also. Ursus stopped laughing and moved towards a building. He put his back against a wall and sat down, letting the emotions run their course while the pain from the wounds he sustained grew. Soon, he felt calmer, meeker, and most importantly, more in pain.

"Ursus?!" a familiar voice yelled. He turned around to find Sagitari running towards him alongside Sagino.

"Hey, guys," he weakly spoke.

Sagitari finally came to his side and bent down. "You're hurt! Sit down while I bandage you up."

"No," Ursus gritted as he tried to get up from his position, "We don't have time. We need to get to that fire!."

"We can worry about that later," Sagitari said.

"But-"

"Ursus," Sagino's broad voice spoke, "If we don't fix you, then we can't save the civilian."

With two voices again him, Ursus consented and sat back down. His team leader then pulled out a medical kit and started disinfecting and wrapping the slashes and wounds he had received.

"Sagino," Ursus breathed out, "I understand."

"What do you mean?"

"I learned how strong emotion can be."

Sagino loudly laughed. "Ah. Seems you've found out how to channel it for them."

Sagitari tilted her head. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," both of them responded.

* * *

Orphiucha did a back flip as another strike from the scorpion tail came forward. An ursa came upon her new position, but was quickly stopped by a throwing javelin from Cam. Cam then pulled another set of explosives from out of thin air and threw them at the scorpion. The hit was successful, but the armor of the scorpion was far too strong to break from some simple grenades. Orphiucha tried to throw some energy waves from her batons, but again the scorpion's shell had no difficulty blocking the attacks.

"Liu!" Cam's voice reverberated, shaking the kid out of his bewilderment, "What are you doing?!"

Liu had found himself mesmerized by the way the pair was fighting. They both moved with such speed and grace as if they were partaking in a waltz. No smaller grimm even touched them despite the fact they were focusing their efforts on the strongest monster there. Thankfully, the voice got his attention in time, and Liu managed to get out of the way of an attacking beo-wolf. Doing a flip of his own, which lacked the same grace as the others, he got out of range then came back with his own slash. The grimm managed to use its claws to clash with the sword, but this gave Liu the chance to test out his scarf once more. He brought the thing to life and slowly moved it forward in the grimm's blind spot. Liu was amazed when he found the scarf encircle the grimm's torso bit by bit, but it was far too slow. Before Liu even managed to command it to tighten, the beast's patience wore thin and used its superhuman strength to shove Liu a few feet back and force him on his knee. The scarf followed and instead chose to lifelessly flop on the ground.

"C'mon," he muttered, trying to animate it once more and pull it back. However, the beo-wolf moved faster and stomped its foot on top of the metallic cloth.

"Can't you stand somewhere else?" Liu groaned. The grimm smiled back despite not knowing language, perhaps due to pleasure of coming out on top. Then, it hit Liu. He had yet to figure out the strength of his scarf. Why not now?

"Well, if you want to be like that, it's fine by me!" Liu then shot his semblance into the scarf once more, intentionally moving it like how he did when he first got it from Sagitari. As expected, the thing flipped around like crazy, starting from Liu's hand and moving down to the end of the scarf.

What was unexpected, though, was the velocity at which the grimm was launched. Or rather, the fact that it launched at all.

The beast refused to move when it saw the scarf come to life, and that was its undoing. When the thrashing had reached the end that wasn't in contact with Liu, the grimm shot into the air at a speed rivaling how fast the scorpion sent Ursus. He quickly shot off his semblance and wrapped his scarf around his arm once it stopped moving, but Liu kept his eyes on the beast. The beo-wolf, which had a familiar silhouette, became smaller and smaller until it finally crashed into the brick roof of a building in the distance. The sight made Liu nervously chuckle.

Seemed he had a lot more to uncover about his power.

"Liu!" Cam said again, "Can you help us out?"

Liu turned around and ran towards the others, who stood on the other side of the scorpion. "Y-yeah!"

An ursa tried to get between Liu and the others, but Liu slid under its legs and slashed at its heels to keep it from following. Next was the scorpion. With its back turned, he planned on stabbing it while it was distracted. Its tail and claws were focused on Orphiucha and Cam, who dodged and slid around with little difficulty. Thus, the back would be no problem. Liu ran faster and faster, sword held in both hands for stability. All fear was pushed away and all that was left was resolve. Liu pulled his sword back once he reached twenty feet away. Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen. Si-

Without even turning, the scorpion grimm swung its tail backwards and slammed it into Liu's side. It missed with its stinger, but managed to force the kid off his feet and into the ground. As for Liu, he felt no pain when it occurred. In fact, he didn't even process what happened. He just found himself on the concrete the next moment. He felt a strange liquid sensation on his forehead, but couldn't lift his left arm to feel it for some reason. In fact, he couldn't even feel his left arm.

Despite being in a haze, he knew what that meant. Panic filled his brain and he started hyperventilating. After all, it was the first time it had ever happened.

His left arm was broken.

* * *

Sagitari, Ursus, and Sagino made it to the source of the fire before any grimm had arrived. A small, brick house at the corner of the town was release smoke from its fireplace.

"This is the worst time to start a fire," Ursus muttered.

Sagino quickly shushed the kid, then signaled for the others to follow silently. The three tip-toed through the street in the emergency that a grimm was in their immediate vicinity. Fighting could be heard from a distance, but nearby it seemed like grimm had all disappeared. They must be safe.

Sagino sighed. "Alright, let's-"

Immediately, a grimm came from the shadows of a nearby arch and lunged for Sagino. Before he could move, though, a unexpected bullet implanted itself into the wolf-like monster.

"I suppose we aren't alone," he spoke.

"Are you hunters?!" a new, raspy voice came from the house. The three looked up to find a somewhat older gentleman looking from the second-story window holding a small gun with a silencer in his hand.

"What are you doing, starting a fire in the middle of a fight? You'll attract all the grimm right back here!" Sagino responded.

"Well how else did you want me to get in contact? A call?" the man sarcastically replied.

"You don't. We come to you, but I suppose that's been pushed up on the schedule. Anyways, extinguish that fire before-"

A pack of beo-wolf grimm showed up. Looking aggravated but not questioning his situation, Sagino pulled his sword off his back and slashed around as much as he could. He took hits, scratches, punches, everything you'd imagine, yet his sword managed to do five times the damage back. One grimm, two grimm, three… He murdered them left and right as if they were nothing. Needless to say, it was inspiring to the others.

"I have a lot more to go before I become a real huntress!" Sagitari exclaimed.

"R-right," Ursus meekly agreed.

Before the two students could even help, the bloodied man was surrounded by the floating dust of the dead grimm.

"Now will you shut off that fire?!" Sagino angrily yelled at the old man in the window.

"Alright did that while you were tangoing. Anyways, could you take care of the rest of the grimm? I'd like this town to be back to normal so I can get my smoking pipe."

"You little…"

Sagino's curses were then interrupted by Ursus. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "We don't mean to inconvenience you, but we're here looking for a person. Do you know of someone named Agustus Edelweiss?"

The old man's face turned pale in an instant, so much so that it was noticeable from a distance. He nodded. "When you finish off the grimm, come back here. I can take you to him."

Sagitari jumped for joy. "Awesome! We found Orphiucha's father! Mission completed!"

Sagino grumbled, "Let's head back to the others."

Ursus nodded, but he couldn't shake off the bad feeling he had. Why did the man look so ashamed? So worried? Was Agustus truly here? He shook his head and focused on the good aspect, that they found her father, but there was more. Ursus knew there had to be more.

He couldn't think upon it, though, as a large group of grimm stood in front of them. The three took out their weapons in anticipation.

"Alright," Sagino groaned, "Let's take these grimm out for old mister prince over there!"

* * *

Orphiucha watched helplessly as Liu was brushed aside by the scorpion's tail and left lying on the ground.

"LIU!" Kang yelled from a distance. He let go of his semblance, but immediately a wave of lancers came flying down, forcing Kang to turn back around and keep them in check. "Someone! Check Liu!"

"Damn," Cam regretted, "I should've known! This grimm's other senses must be enhanced considering it stays in the ground."

The scorpion wasn't finished yet. Perhaps tired of its game with Cam and Orphiucha, it shifted its body towards the helpless Liu and started crawling. It wanted blood, and since the two weren't going to give it, Liu was the obvious choice.

"We need to stop it!" Cam pulled even more explosives and weapons out of the air and threw them at the monster, but nothing even pierced the skin. Orphiucha herself desperately released energy waves of every element from her batons, but it was all useless. The monster chose to ignore it in pursuit of its prey: Liu.

_Liu_. Orphiucha's stomach dropped as she saw him twitch. He was still alive. Conscious even. The only thing was that he seemed to be unaware of what was going on. As the scorpion got closer, Liu still sat there, head bobbing.

_Liu_. Orphiucha dropped her batons, as useless as they were right now, and sprinted as fast as she could. Her speed was far quicker than the scorpion.

_Liu. _She couldn't let him die. He showed her that humans could be trusted. That humans were still good.

_Liu. _He showed her that she didn't have to hide her feelings. She didn't have to shield herself behind a façade. He was someone she could trust with everything.

_Liu. _He was someone she could have feelings for.

Orphiucha successfully reached him before the scorpion got close and wrapped her arms around the wounded teammate. She could see his left arm bent in a strange direction and blood dripping down his face. He was still stable, but his eyes were looking a little hazy.

"Hey, Orphiucha," he muttered, "Pretty tough pickle we're in, huh?"

"Shh," she hushed him, "Don't waste your strength. Liu! Don't fall asleep just yet!"

"I'm sorry… Orphiucha. I'm still a burden to the team, it seems."

"Don't say that, Liu! You're a teammate, and I won't give up on you just like you didn't give up on me! Just sit here."

Orphiucha grabbed Liu's sword, then stood back up and turned around. The scorpion had reached striking distance and got its tail ready. Cam was focused on the other smaller grimm that tried to attack, it seemed, so it was just her. He didn't notice that she dropped her weapon or that Kang couldn't help them. They were effectively helpless with the exception of Liu's sword, though she assumed it would be about as useful as Cam's explosives. There was no way.

There was no way.

There was…

There was a way.

* * *

**Five years prior…**

Orphicha sat on the ground in amazement at what she had just conjured. She looked at her hands and tried it once again, but it didn't come out.

"What was that?" she asked to Aunt Juni, who was training her in the courtyard of a public park.

Aunt Juni laughed. "Looks like you summoned your semblance for the first time!"

"My semblance? But it was so strange!"

Juni sat down beside her. "That's what all semblances feel like the first time hunters and huntresses use them. It's different for everyone, of course, but I think it's that difference that makes it so strange. No one feels the same thing you do."

"Really?" Orphiucha questioned.

"Well, mostly. I suppose our semblance is different."

Orphiucha lifted her head up. "'Our?'"

Juni nodded. "Well, I'm surprised but it looks like you've inherited the Edelweiss semblance! Of course people like to compare it to the Schnee semblance since we're related, but it's mostly its own-"

"I won't use it," Orphiucha flatly stated. She crossed her arms in determination. Just hearing that it was connected with the Edelweiss name disgusted Orphiucha. In fact, just the knowledge that she had a semblance like this tainted her self-image. Well, if fate was pulling her towards the Edelweiss name with this semblance, then she would defy fate by any means necessary.

"Orph? C'mon, a semblance is an important part of every huntress."

"Then I'll be the first huntress to not have a semblance. After all, it's not my semblance. It's _their_ semblance."

Juni frowned. "You know that I'm one of them, too?"

Orphiucha shook her head. She was more than determined to forget her semblance for the rest of her life.

Her aunt sighed. "Well, Orph, it's your choice, but remember this: Just because you use it doesn't mean you'll become someone else. You are you, and the semblance is secondary. Even if you do have a hereditary semblance, you won't become an Edelweiss. Now, let's get back to training, huh?"

* * *

She was done being selfish. Orphiucha took a deep breath and activated her semblance for the first time in five years just as the scorpion shot its tail downwards on the two.

A circular glyph appeared, and the scorpion tail crashed into it, unable to break through.

Orphiucha looked up with determination. Her snake eyes suddenly changed color from green to red, and the piercing gaze seemed to stop some of the smaller grimm from getting closer.

"Don't you _ever_ touch my team again!"

The girl then raised her hand in the air and pushed forward, and the glyph shot the tail backwards. Orphiucha activated her semblance once more, creating a glyph under the giant grimm. As she had examined from both Juni and the spars that Weiss partook in, she knew exactly what her semblance could do. She sent the scorpion sliding backwards at an immense speed. It tried to get off the glyph but was unable to collect any friction, and found itself implanted into the side of a stone building.

Quickly, Orphiucha turned around. "Here, Liu. Put her arm around my neck."

Using his good arm, Liu did just that, and Orphiucha managed to pull him up. "Sorry… for the trouble…"

"Don't say that. Come on, let's get someplace safe."

She had to be fast. Thus, when the first thing she looked at was an abandoned café, she dragged her teammate towards it. The structure still looked well-intact and the windows were covered, so she felt it would be the best place to protect him. Once she made it to the door, she kicked it open with some added strength through her glyph. "Here we go," she hoisted him.

The place was dusty for sure, and the ground was slightly littered from the evacuation, but all the furniture was in place. She pulled Liu over towards a soft couch on the side of the room and slowly dropped him down. "Stay here, Liu. I'll come back when the fighting outside is over."

"But I can still fi-"

"No, Liu! Please… don't die, okay?"

Liu looked into Orphiucha's eyes for a few seconds and finally nodded. "Alright, I'll yield. The same goes for you, too. Don't die, Orph."

She grinned back. "Don't worry. It'll take more than a scorpion to kill someone like me."

After a reassuring pat on his shoulder, Orphiucha turned around and walked out the café, then shut the door. By this time, the scorpion had just dug itself out of the hole in the wall and tried to release its anger out on Cam, though Cam was just about as untouched as the beast was. She activated her semblance once more and sped up time, increasing her speed and allowing herself to run towards her dropped batons.

"Orph!" Sagitari yelled from a distance. Orphiucha looked over to find Ursus, Sagitari, and Sagino running over. She quickly cartwheeled, grabbing her batons as she moved over them and pointed the two towards the scorpion.

"Let's take care of this thing!" she yelled back.

"Where's Liu?" Sagitari asked just before standing beside Orphiucha. Ursus took the other side, though Sagino was impatient and already started charging against the monster.

"He took a bad hit, but he's fine. I hid him in a building nearby. Now, stand still!"

"What do you-" Sagitari's question was cut short when Orphiucha activated her semblance again, and created a path of glyphs that led towards the scorpion. Once the final glyph was placed, the three were sent at high speed in the direction of the scorpion. Sagitari was surprised, and Ursus was downright frightened, but neither of them could lose balance. Instead, it was as if the world was moving around them, positioning them to be in just to the side of the scorpion.

Once they stopped, Sagitari chuckled. "So you're using it?"

"I had to! Liu was in trouble and… ah, forget it! Let's just beat this grimm and find my dad!"

Sagitari smiled, but nodded and charged forward with her muscle mass only slightly increased. Ursus ran towards the monster as well, trying to stab it with the spear at a moderate distance. Meanwhile, Sagino lacked all the grace Cam had in his movements, choosing to instead jump and slam his hunk of metal called a sword on the grimm. Even with his strength, though, he could only create small cracks in the monster's skin or make it lose its balance.

Orphiucha went on the attack as well. After creating a glyph in the air, she jumped on top of it, aimed it at the scorpion, and jumped. In a mere nanosecond, she shot herself over the scorpion in order to give herself a chance at a slash. Yet even with that speed, the scorpion shell just dented again.

At this moment, the scorpion had had enough. It stretched its tail out and spun around, forcing the group to get to a safe distance.

"Damn! Nothing's getting past its armor!" Sagitari groaned as she landed.

"What can we do against this thing?" Ursus questioned. He initially grabbed at his spear's blade, but stopped himself.

Sagitari looked down in thought. "Its joints are the weak points for sure, but it won't kill it. Only impede it. That would be our best bet. Only issue is none of us have anything that can take out a tail that fast. Ursus has a spear for stabbing, I have brass knuckles, and you have batons. Cam's weapons are all lightweight so they wouldn't get through the joints, while Sagino isn't dexterous enough to hit that small of an area."

"So if the tail stopped moving, you could take it out?" a familiar voice said from behind.

The three looked back to find Liu with a painful look on his face, though his bad arm was supported by his scarf. It seemed he had managed to create an arm sling with it.

"Liu!? Why did you leave? I told you to say there!" Orphiucha asked.

Perhaps due to his current state, he didn't speak but instead threw his sword at Orphiucha. "Take this. I have a plan."

* * *

"Liu, do you really think you're in an okay state to do this?" Sagitari asked.

Again, Liu nodded. "I keep telling you, its fine. It's just the arm. Besides, my plan doesn't involve me doing any of the heavy fighting."

The three other teammates hesitantly nodded. They would have forced Liu to sit out, but Liu knew the others understood he had to be a part of the plan. The four then turned around to the fight scene, where Cam and Sagino kept the monster distracted.

"When I count down to one, we go. Three… two… one!"

Immediately, Sagitari and Orphiucha sprinted while Ursus and Liu stood back. Now four fought the scorpion at once, frustrating the monster once again. Sagitari continued her punches while Orphiucha slashed at the shell with Liu's sword. The thing remained unfazed, but furious.

And that was what Liu wanted.

Cam and Sagino took to one side of the monster while Orphiuch and Sagitari stood on the other, surrounding the monster. Having had enough of the useless strikes, the scorpion outstretched its tail once more and started spinning. The four were forced to step back as a result, signaling Liu and Ursus to instead come forward, though still remain distant enough to not take a hit from the tail.

"Let's do this, Ursus!"

* * *

**A few minutes earlier…**

Liu laid on the couch in pain. The numbness had already subsided, forcing Liu to feel the sharp discomfort that reverberated throughout his left arm. He was in a haze, half-stuck between the embrace of pain and the touch of the dirty couch. He felt sweat drip down his forehead. He felt his pain spike. He felt the dust touch his skin. He felt his pain once again. He felt the wind from outside come in. He felt the pain once more. Pain, pain, pain. That was all he felt.

Doing all he could to restrain himself from yelling, Liu looked around the dirty coffee shop. Every single part of the café - the tables, the chairs, the cash registers - all of it was caked with dust. Bundles of newspapers spread over the floor, and large coffee stain soiled the carpet in front of the couch Liu sat. Then Liu saw it: cans and bottles.

Cans and bottles. Cans and bottles. It was like destiny was taunting him for not knowing how to use his semblance.

Liu was filled with anger just looking at the sets, all standing in a row. Out of both rage and pain, he yelled as he shot his semblance-injected scarf at the set. He watched the end of the metal scarf go directly for the can in the middle. He didn't care what happened. He just wanted to get this anger out.

Yet, when it reached the can, the scarf spun around it and grabbed the tin. Liu hardly could believe it, so much so that he momentarily forgot about his pain and discomfort.

Then another spike of pain shook out of his stupor.

Liu gritted his teeth and pulled on the semblance in his scarf. As expected, the cloth came back, giving its master the spoils it had obtained. Liu touched the cold, dirty can in surprise. He tried his best not to stop, though: Immediately, he dropped it and tried again on the other objects. He couldn't forget the feelings he had when he grabbed the first can.

This time, he got a bottle.

_It's like a limb, but it's not._ Such a contradiction would make no sense to anyone, but to Liu it was a perfect analogy of his semblance. It felt like an arm to him, but it didn't function as a normal arm would. It was just a scarf, so he had to accommodate it as such.

Liu grabbed another bottle. And another. All the training he had done before, including attempting to grab the last two grimm, built him to where he was now. Even pulling the scarf back around his arm helped.

In fact, he didn't even need to use much physical effort to control his scarf. After finishing with the row, Liu stood up and started to run out of the café, but the pain in his arm made him stop in his tracks. Carefully, he wrapped his scarf around his shoulder in such a way that it functioned as an arm sling. Once that was completed, though he was still in pain, he could manage to run in order to help his friends. He had to help. He wanted to help.

* * *

At the same time, Liu shot out his scarf as Ursus threw his chain forward. The two caught onto the scorpion's tail as it spun around once more. Rather than being pulled along with the spin though, Liu's semblance gave his scarf unusually enhanced strength, while Ursus's own physical build mixed with his aura kept him from being swept away.

The scorpion was caught. Its tail was grabbed at both the base and the tip. Try as it might, it couldn't fight against the strength of Liu's semblance or the muscle of Ursus. The tail was straightened out, unable to curl once more.

Perfect for Orphiucha. The girl activated her semblance once more, sending her towards the scorpion at high speeds. She activated one more glyph, increasing her own personal speed. Then, once she was close, she jumped directly towards the tail. Her semblance enabled her such dexterous feats, and she skillfully slashed into the joint of the tail that couldn't be found due to its curled nature. The end of the tail came clean off.

Now it was Ursus' turn. His chain being the one that held the sharp end of the scorpion tail, he jumped and spun the bulb around in the air. With one more swing he threw it down, and the sharp bulb came onto the head of the scorpion grimm. Inflicting damage that none of them, not even Sagino or Sagitari, could cause, the scorpion stinger impaled deep into its original host, breaking through the hard outer shell that seemed almost impenetrable.

But it wasn't over yet, and that's where Sagitari came in. Suddenly, she activated her semblance to the utmost extremity to where her height even increased alongside her muscles. She launched herself forward with one jump, and nearly igniting the air with her speed, bridged the gap between her and the scorpion's head. Finally, she threw one massive punch, forcing the stringer even deeper into the grimm's skull to the point where its vitals had been breached.

The grimm, as a result, thrashed around, throwing Sagitari into a building nearby.

"Tari!" Orphiucha yelled, dashing for her friend.

The scorpion tried to claw at the wound on its head as well, but it was far too late. The stringer was all the way in. Eventually, its movements became weaker, smaller, and less unpredictable. The red eyes of the grimm faded as well, and with one more claw towards the sky, the beast started its disintegration process.

Team SOUL had won. At the sight of their victory, Liu and Ursus fell to their knees in exhaustion and relief.

"What a group of kids y'all are!" Sagino laughed as he walked forward. The smaller grimm, seeing their boss dead, had no hesitation in retreating. The few that did try to attack Sagino were easily brushed off.

"Indeed. I am impressed," Cam agreed with a small smile.

"T-thanks," Liu muttered. The pain was returning with even more fury, unfortunately, so he could barely say anything more than that.

Kang put down his sword when he saw the last of the flying grimm retreat towards the horizon. It made him sigh in relief, but shock came to his face when he turned around and saw Liu's state. "Liu?! Crap, your mother is really not going to like this! I don't want to be in the doghouse again!"

Despite his pain, though, seeing his dad's reaction made him chuckle.

From the left, Orphiucha was coming back, supporting a battered and bleeding Sagitari. "We need help over here!"

Immediately, Cam dashed towards them and took a medical box out from thin air. With his back covering the view, he masterfully bandaged and cleaned Sagitari's wounds. Pieces of debris, such a bloodied paper and bandages, were flying out of the blurs that he called his hands. Finally, he stood up and turned aside, revealing Sagitari's wounds and scratches all bandaged safely, though it seemed like she was in a hazy state, barely conscious.

"Now, next is Liu!"

* * *

The four kids walked behind Sagino, who led the group towards the house at the edge of the town. All four of them were bandaged, though Orphiucha seemed to have the least wounds in this battle. Liu's arm was finally put in a cast, Ursus's large claw wounds on his chest were all fully covered thanks to Cam redoing Sagitari's bandages, and Sagitari's body was just about wrapped like a mummy. That being said, Orphiucha's face looked the most worried. It was as if she was the most in pain and painkillers couldn't help her like it did the three others. It was like she wanted to cry, but did everything in her power to stop it.

It was understandable. They were going to see her father.

"My father... He's here…," she kept muttering. None of the others could aid her or give her any sort of calming words. This was something Orphiucha had to sort out herself.

Eventually, the proclaimed house was in sight, with an old man standing at the front of its small gate.

"Liu," Ursus whispered away from the other, "Can I say something? I'm worried. The guy there… he's also worried. Or guilty? I'm not sure."

"So? It'll be fine."

"But what if it ends up worse for Orphiucha? What if he brings some harsh reality down on her?"

Liu thought for a bit, but shook his head. "We have to let her find out the truth, no matter how painful it can be. Besides, she's a strong girl. I'm sure no matter what happens, she will still come out the same as she's always been."

Ursus nodded. "Sorry, I suppose you're right. I'll trust her."

Just as their conversation ended, the group of seven made it to the old man.

"Glad you all finished off the grimm. Unfortunately, I don't have any-"

"My father," Orphiucha interrupted, "Where is Agustus Edelweiss?"

The old man looked down and scratched his head. "I knew this day would come. Agustus gave me a message in preparation for this day."

"So? What is it?!" Orphiucha grabbed his collar in anticipation.

"You father is right. You have beautiful eyes," the man calmly responded. Orphiucha's face was contorted with pains from her past, and she let go, though she still stopped herself from crying. Remaining calm, the man patted his jacket and turned around.

"That wasn't the message. He just told me that a while back." With that, the man started walking with a small limp down the street.

"Hey," Kang spoke out loud, "Where are you going? We need some answers."

"Follow me," the old man spoke back, "I'm going to take you to Agustus Edelweiss."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant! This was... the longest chapter I've ever written for this story. Thanks for your patience! If you enjoy the story, leave a review, follow, or favorite it! I'm glad y'all take time our of your busy lives to read this! Anyways, have a good day and God bless!)


	37. Chapter 37: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 37: Before – Destiny's End

"So," Liu spoke, trying to change the atmosphere, "How do you know Agustus, sir?"

The old man didn't look back. He merely spoke. "The name's Terrace, kid. I'm fine telling it, but is his daughter okay with hearing it?"

"Exactly!" Sagitari agreed, "Liu, don't ask questions you shouldn't pry into! That's-"

"I want to hear it," Orphiucha spoke up. She had fear in her eyes, but it was overcome with a strong sense of determination.

The old man stopped and nodded, then continued walking. "It was a good while back when he first came into our town…"

* * *

**Nine Years Ago**

Terrace hid in the thick bushes as he aimed his sniper rifle and observed a black creature with red eyes drag itself down the dirt road, about a kilometer away from the city. An Ursa. As per his duties, he was the one to kill the grimm. He was the "hunter" of Dandelion, though hunter was a very loose term. He had no training, nor did he go to an academy. He was just a great shot with guns and knew a little bit about grimm. Like how the Ursa moved alone. No grimm would cry for this bear-shaped creature if it were to die suddenly. No one would moan. No one would care.

Terrace looked through the scope and quickly took the shot. A fraction of a moment later, and sound-less bullet went through the grimm's face. Another moment passed, and the grimm began its disintegration process without so much as an expression of fear. Just hatred like usual.

Terrace sighed at the ignorant anger of the decaying beast and lifted himself up out of the shrubbery he was situated in. The day's work was finished. All the reported grimm in the area were taken care of, so now was time to pick up his check and head home, as it had always been for the past twenty years. Of course, that fact made Terrace start to worry. His leg was getting worse. His eyes couldn't see as well. He had just reached mid-age. Soon, the job would have to be passed to someone else, and when that happened, Dandelion could only hope that that someone had the competence to handle grimm.

He shook his head to get the worries out, then bent down and grabbed his hunting bags. Finally, he started his trek back home, a solid kilometer away. He'd have all that time to think about all his worries. Typically, the first sound he would hear would be the sound of the sticks under his feet or the bird in the air. So, it shocked him when he heard a weak voice.

"H…He…Help," a voice muttered from behind, deep in another set of bushes. The sound made Terrace spin around and reflexively aim his gun. It didn't take long for the voice to speak again.

"Help…"

"Hello?"

"He…Hello. N…Now, help."

Terrace tilted his head at the sass of the voice and put his gun down. He didn't know of any grimm that could trick him like this, at least not in Vale, so he approached it. Once he got closer, he saw the figure with white hair under the bush. He also saw its wounds. Several cuts. A few broken bones. A blood pool around it.

He wasn't going to live.

"What's your name, boy?" Terrace muttered as he pulled the leaves away and let the body out into the sun. He was even worse than Terrace though.

"Ag…Agustus."

"Well, I'm not one for mincing words, so I'll just say it here: You will die, Agustus. With wounds like this, it's a miracle you're even talking right now."

"No… I… wo… won't die… I have a… family."

"Well, I don't know what-"

The disfigured body grabbed his leg as he leaned against the tree. "Please…"

Looking into his eyes, Terrace didn't know what it was that pushed him to help. He was never the helping type. But after seeing this desperate man trying hard to find his family, something struck Terrace. He groaned, but bent down and put the man's arm around his neck and lifted him up. "Come on," Terrace spoke, "Town is just a small walk down that way."

At the very least, he could give him a comfortable death in a bed with sown up wounds.

* * *

_"To think he'd die! I've never met a man so stubborn in his life. It shocked me when he said his wife and daughter were even more stubborn."_

_ "Anyways," Terrace continued, "His story didn't end there, no matter how close it seemed he was to death."_

* * *

Terrace walked into the room, only three days after he found the man. By this time, he expected him to be a rotting corpse. Yet here he was, sitting upright as he looked out the window with only a slight cough to interrupt the silence. The man's determination to live was beyond what Terrace had ever seen from anyone, man or grimm. Beside his bed sat the city's doctor with her tied up hair and her round glasses. She too was stunned at the man's recovery, wearing a stunned expression as she acknowledged Terrace.

"It's a miracle you're even alive," Terrace marveled.

Agustus smiled at him. "What can I say? I make my own miracles. Anyways pops, where are we?"

Terrace sat beside the window as he too looked out. "You're currently in Dandelion. It's a pretty big town, but that doesn't mean we're important enough to have professional hunters protecting us."

"So… this is Vale, right?"

"Of course it's Vale! You didn't hit your head, did you?"

Agustus tilted his head, then coughed. "Uh, I sort of did, didn't I?"

"You tell me, son," Terrace spoke, "Actually, I'm kinda curious where you came from. A random body in the bushes must have some home. Did you mention something about your family?"

The newcomer scratched his head and looked a bit regretful. "I had to deal with some… business in Atlas. Bad business. It forced me to leave my wife and daughter, but I managed to escape."

"Is this bad business gonna bite you in the butt again?"

"No," the man said as he looked away with guilty eyes.

Terrace felt the uncomfortable vibes coming from Agustus. The doctor too felt nervous in this environment and kept her eyes on her papers. Terrace coughed and spoke, "Well, I won't ask about this business, but why'd you have so many wounds?"

"The boat I was on sunk just a few miles off shore when grimm attacked out boat. Call it luck, a miracle, divine intervention, but whatever it was stopped the grimm from killing me. I managed to swim through cold water and make it on the beach before dragging myself down the path until I had no more strength."

"That's a long walk, son."

"It's worth it. I have to make it home. Speaking of which…" After a small cough, Agustus turned around and started standing up.

"Whoa! You sure you should be doing that?" Terrace worried.

"No problem!" Agustus grinned.

That was until his legs gave out and he fell back on the bed. Then he coughed.

The doctor sighed. "You're still healing, nimrod," she said with her usual lack of bedside manners, "I know it's tough to wait, but you have to. You don't want to collapse on your way home."

Agustus groaned. "Fine, fine! I hate waiting, though."

Terrace moved the chair closer, towards the side of the bed parallel from the doctor's. Strangely, he was curious about the guy. "Then why don't you tell me about your family? That can take some time off the recovery."

That question made Agustus wear a small smile. After a cough, he took a deep breath. "Well, I have a wife named Adya and a daughter named Orphiucha. Adya is full-blooded faunus, and Orphiucha's my flesh and blood so she's mixed, but that just makes herevenmorebeautifulsheevenhasthesebeautifuleyesthat…"

* * *

**Present Day**

The old man practically smiled as he spoke. "Your dad was a calm guy, but when it came to talking about you and your mom, he was ecstatic. Every day, he'd…"

Orphiucha listened to every word Terrace said as her world was suddenly flipped upside down. Her hatred was flipped to admiration. Her anger was flipped to happiness. Her father didn't leave. In fact, it sounded like he viciously fought to get back home. He did all he could to escape Atlas, so much so that he carried some sort of guilt with him. He still loved his family. And he was still alive.

…right?

Yet, it's been nine years. Why did he still not-

Her heart sank as the realization that nine years had passed went through her head. That happiness she had as she listened was replaced with fear. "He's… He's not here, is he?"

The old man stopped talking and stood solemnly. "Depends on what you mean."

"I know he's here," Orphiucha continued with grief in her heart, "But he's dead, isn't he?"

There was an absolute silence after that question that lasted for what felt like years. For decades. For centuries even. No one dared respond to try make her feel better. Yet, no one dared to try voice reason, because it was so apparent.

Finally, the man's voice broke the awkward air. "It's just a few more minutes from here."

* * *

**Nine Years Ago**

The coughing wasn't stopping. After a week had passed from that miraculous day, things unexpectedly went south. All Terrace heard from the other room after the town doctor went in was coughing, and if there wasn't coughing, he heard deep, quick wheezing, as if Agustus was trying to breath as much as he could before the next coughing fit occurred. It was terrifying, even for Terrace.

About an hour had passed when the coughing finally slowed down and the doctor snuck out the door. Terrace peaked his head up and stepped towards her.

"So, how is he, doc?"

She sighed and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Luckily the medicine I gave him should calm down the coughing, but just barely. When it gets worse, though, the medicine will do nothing to stop him from coughing out his insides. Terrace, I don't know any other way to say this: He's going to die. The pneumonia is one thing, but he's just recovered from near-fatal wounds. That combination is not good. He will die, if not tonight then tomorrow."

Death? Agustus? In the face of that, Terrace chuckled.

The doctor scowled angrily as a result. "Terrace! This isn't a laughing matter!"

"Doc, he was supposed to die days ago. I know he'll survive this. He makes his own miracles, after all."

The doctor sighed once again. "There are some things in this world that you can't fight with sheer will power. I've seen too many patients die to know this. Just.. prepare for the worst, okay?"

As she left, though, Terrace loudly announced, "You'll see, doc! He'll be on this feet by tomorrow!"

* * *

Terrace walked into the room after a few hours had passed and the medicine had taken full effect. Still, that didn't mean Augustus wasn't done coughing.

After a small coughing fit, Agustus greeted his friend, though he didn't smile. In fact, he looked downright awful. All color was gone from his face and his eyes were slightly closed as his head bobbed slowly. "Hey, there. How you doin'?" he whispered.

Terrace grinned. "I'm doing just a little better than you, though I suspect not for long."

Agustus shook his head. "You shouldn't joke like that."

"Hey, what's the deal? You've been through worse."

Agustus coughed once again, "This time is different, though."

Terrace sighed. "Okay, what did the doc tell you? She's the best in town, but she definitely lacks in her doctor-patient relationships. I remember once she-"

"Terrace! She didn't say anything! I already know. Hell, I think I've known since I first got out of that cold water and landed on the Vale beach. I just didn't want to face the facts."

Terrace, however, was not content. He slammed his fist into the wall. "What about Adya? What about Orphiucha? Are you just gonna give up on seeing them again?! Are you gonna give up on your wife and daughter?"

"Of course I don't want to, but I have no choice! I can't fight pneumonia! I can't-" Suddenly, Agustus had a coughing fit even worse than anything he's had before. Each cough grew with more and more intensity, and while the man tried to take a breath between them, his body wouldn't let him. His face even grew red before the fit finally started to subside. Seeing this, Terrace removed his fist from the wall and looked down. He knew he too had to face the facts. After Agustus said it himself, Terrace had to accept that his new friend was going to die. And from a random sickness of all things, in a random town of all places. And his family wouldn't even know.

"No! If you can't tell them, then I will!" He would not let Agustus become like that Ursa. He wouldn't let Agustus' death be unknown. Someone would moan. Someone would care. Terrace walked to his desk, sat down, and pulled out a pen and a stack of paper from one of the drawers.

"Tell me everything you want to tell them. Then, I'll travel the world on hand and knees to find them. I won't let your reunion with them fail like this!"

The deathly-ill Agustus looked surprised, but managed to smile. "Okay. I'll try to get as much as I can out between the coughs. Ready?"

"Ready."

* * *

"I love you... Your... dad..." Terrace wrote the last words on the letter for Orphiucha. "There we go! Now you need to tell me where they live."

"You know the... saddest thing about this," Agustus ignored Terrace and mumbled in-between smaller coughs, "I don't even... even have a picture of them with me. It got taken by the ocean. I... It's so hard to remember what they look like."

Terrace brought his chair over to his friend. "Come on, try to recall what you told me about them. Didn't they have green viper eyes?"

Agustus' half-closed eyes slightly opened. "R...right. Beautiful green snake eyes... Adya also had dark hair... but Orphiucha had the same... the same hair as me. It looked better on... better on her, too. Short hair..."

Terrace's friend's coughs were getting quieter. "No, no, no, come on, Agustus! You haven't even told me where they are! I need to know! Where are they?!"

Agustus started to smile. He started reaching out in front of him. "They're right here. Don't you see them? Orphiucha's all grown up... and Adya is standing beside her. But... why does... why does Adya look lonely?"

"Stay with me, Agustus! Just for a little longer. Where do they live?"

"Let's... Let's do this tomorrow... I'm tired... I just want to sle... sleep..."

Sitting upright, Agustus dropped his head and closed his eyes, like he was going to sleep. It was so sudden. All of his coughing came to end, just like how his breathing stopped. Terrace could only stare at the body that was once his new friend. When he finally did move, he drifted his hand over to Agustus' arm and felt the cold skin. No pulse. No movement. No sound.

Agustus was dead.

Terrace plopped down onto his chair and dropped his head, looking just slightly below where Agustus' body lay. Was he going to share the same fate as the grimm from that one day? No one would moan for Agustus. No one would care for him. Terrace closed his eyes and and breathed deeply, then looked back at the body.

Well, at least one person could cry for him. Terrace wiped his nose.

"I'll find them," he choked out, "I'll search for them until I can't do it anymore."

* * *

**Present Day**

"And that I did. Despite having little to go off of, I retired from hunting and searched Vale as much as I could, until the day I busted my bad leg. After that, I kept sending people out for them to bring you two here, but even that didn't work out. Well, at least you're here now," Terrace finished as he stopped in front of a gate. From the front of the fences, it was obvious that the place was a graveyard.

Liu came up to Orphiucha's side. "Orphiucha, are you sure you want to do this?"

Nothing would change the half-faunus' mind, however. She had to see the truth with her own eyes. She nodded. "Yes, Liu. I have to see him. I have to see my father."

Terrace nodded back and opened the latch on the gate, allowing the seven to walk inside. Funny how the graveyard didn't look like how it did in horror movies. There was no fog or darkness. Instead, the place was very well lit with cobblestone paths that moved in front of each tombstone. It was quite beautiful if it wasn't for the encircled sorrow of the group.

The old man then led the rest down the path until he came to a random marble tombstone beside a plethora of others. It was a very humble grave. For Orphiucha, however, this tombstone was sacred. The most important one of the entire field.

_Agustus_. The only word it said.

"Sorry it look so long for you two to meet again," Terrace responded, "This is for you." He then reached into his pocket and took out a rectangular folded-up paper and offered it forward.

"A letter?" Orphiucha muttered.

"Yes."

A letter. The words she had wanted to always hear, even when she held hatred for her father. Should she read them? Should she change her world even more? It would be so easy to brush all this off. Leave her father as a memory in her early childhood. It would be far more difficult to go forward with this knowledge. It would be so hard to hold the burden of a dead father on her back. All the years she could have spent with him went through her head. He didn't meet Sagitari. He would never see Liu. He'd never walk Orphiucha down the aisle on her wedding day. It was going to be difficult, living the rest of her years thinking about "what if."

But the life of a huntress being easy? She had no hesitation in taking the letter. She took a deep breath, then opened the letter with renewed vision.

_Orphiucha,_

_ How are you? I hope you haven't read the letter I wrote to your mom. It has adult stuff in it. I also hope you're helping her, too. She's a strong woman, but she often has trouble asking for help.  
_

_I can't believe it's been only a month. It feels like years since I left. I was so excited to come home and surprise you and your mother, but I know that it won't happen.  
_

_Do you remember that one time I ate that raw meat and ended up sick in bed? Remember when you and your mom had to keep stuffing soup down my throat until I stopped throwing it up? It's like that, only far, far worse. It's so bad that I won't be on Remnant much longer. _

_This leaves me with so many more wishes. I wish I could see you graduate from school. I wish I could meet your future boyfriends and kick them all out until there's one that I like. I wish I could have one final father-daugther dance before you leave with your husband. I wish I could have grandchildren with eyes as beautiful as yours and your mom's. I wish all this and so much more, but my time has come. It's sad, but you can't make miracles. That's why they're called miracles, and I suppose I've run out of them after meeting your mom and having you as our daughter.  
_

_ I wish I could say so many more words but my coughs are stopping me from speaking. So, I'll leave these last words to you: I love you, kiddo. You are the greatest daughter this world has ever known. It pains me that I won't see you grow, but I know you'll do great things. You've always done great things, and don't forget that you always have the power to do so. After all, you are your mother's daughter. So, please, don't think of me as someone who died. Think of me as someone who lived for his family, so that you may do the same when you have a child._

_I love you,_

_Your dad. _

"Is it raining?" Orphiucha asked. Drops of water were landing on her letter and forming wet marks.

"Raining?" Liu asked, "Not at-"

Sagitari elbowed Liu in his sore ribs to stop him from talking. "Just a little bit," she lied.

"Good." Orphiucha fell to her knees and pulled herself closer to the tombstone. _Agustus._ One name. Nothing else. But that was enough. Orphiucha closed the letter and stared at the tombstone before look up at the night sky. Thousands of stars littered the night sky. If he wasn't on Remnant, was he up in space now? Could he come back? A funny thought, but Orphiuch wanted her dad back. She wanted to say sorry. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to hug him.

And like that, an entire life went through her head. She saw herself telling her dad about Team SOUL. She saw him and Liu shaking hands, and Liu looking nervous as he often would. She saw her mom and dad dancing in the living room while she clapped her hands. She saw her dad watching from the audience as she won the Vytal tournament, cheering the loudest out of everyone watching. She saw so much, and in an instant it disappeared when she came back to reality.

Dad was here and he was dead. That was her world.

Her hands were numb. Her face was twitching. Orphiucha gritted her teeth and pulled her fists close to her sides. Her eyelids came closer together as she heard strange sounds come out of her mouth. Quick inhales. Her nose too became a little runny. She wiped her face with her arm and looked back at the tombstone. _Agustus. _Orphiucha raised her left hand forward and touched the top of the marble tombstone."I'm so sorry, Dad."

Suddenly, the "rain" on her face increased as her voice became croaky and her breathing became disjointed. She was weeping, she realized, and it caused her to grab the nine-year old tombstone in a hug. A hug she thought she would have despised for nine years. A hug that she realized she had always wanted since the beginning.

"We-Welcome home."

* * *

"Orphiucha. Crying. I think I've seen everything now," Liu marveled as he, Ursus, and Sagitari sat around the fireplace at Terrace's house while rubbing their wounds. Behind them, Orphiucha was sleeping soundly on the couch.

"You shouldn't be saying stuff like that! You do realize what she went through, right?" Sagitari nearly yelled.

"Shh. You two might wake her up," Ursus whispered with a grunt before patting his bandages.

"I'm joking," Liu responded back, "It's sad that we didn't find her father here. I wonder what I could do to help her."

"The most we can do is just continue being friends and teammates as we've always been," Sagitari said with a nod.

"Friends…," Ursus muttered, "Would you two still be friends with me if I was a monster?"

The random question made Sagitari and Liu looked at one another in confusion. Liu turned back towards Ursus. "Are you okay, dude?"

Ursus quickly grew flustered and looked down. "N-nevermind!"

Sagitari wasn't going to let his curiosity persist though. "Of course we would! Team SOUL is friends until the end, no matter how weird we are!"

"Definitely. Now can you keep quiet?" a voice came from behind the three. Liu turned around to see Orphiucha sitting up from her couch, face as stern as ever, though she looked a little dissatisfied that she had to wake up.

"Orph!" Liu spoke up, "How are you feeling?"

"You do realize I'm the one of our group that suffered the least in terms of wounds? I should be asking that to you!"

"Well… you know." Liu avoided eye contact and rubbed his arm, though he was poked by an annoyed Sagitari for prying into Orphiucha's business.

However, the half-faunus sat up and consented to Liu's question. "I'm… sad, that's for sure. Maybe even a little confused, too, but the strongest emotion I'm feeling right now is pride. Before I was so disgusted that my dad's blood was going through my veins, but now I can gladly use my semblance knowing that it came from him. He was the strongest man I ever knew, and he wasn't even a hunter! I'm going to always remember him for what he was: A true family man. Oh, and Liu?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Orphiucha, finally, gave a small smile, yet it was foiled by Sagitari standing up with a frown. Then, out of nowhere, Sagitari burst into tears and leapt onto the couch, nearly crushing Orphiucha under her weight. "Oh, Orph! I'm so happy for you!"

"H-hey! Get off me already!" Orphiucha struggled to speak out as she pushed her friend away. However, it was nothing compared to Sagitari's strength, and she slowly but surely managed to wrap her arms around her annoyed friend.

The strange situation made Liu start chuckling. Ursus couldn't stop himself either and uncharacteristically laughed loudly. That laughter made the two girls stop fighting, and soon they too were caught up in it, even Orphiucha. Here they all were again, Team SOUL as one. No more splits. No more lies. For the first time, honestly was prevalent in the team, and Liu felt pride for his team just like Orphiucha felt pride for her father. This was true friendship, he thought.

Liu stood up and put his unwrapped hand forward. At that sight, Sagitari jumped up and put her hand on top of his. Ursus and Orphiucha followed, and together the four cheered in sync.

"Team SOUL!"

* * *

Orphiucha entered into the guest room in Terrace's house when everyone else had fallen asleep. The same one where Agustus, her father, had died. Where, apparently, he fell asleep one final time. No tears would come out of her eyes, though she did feel a mix of pride and sorrow circulating in her body. She carefully dragged her finger over the blanket in an attempt to recreate the scene in her head. How unfortunate that the memories of how her father looked were fuzzier than she realized. She'd have to ask her mom if she could borrow a picture.

"Couldn't sleep?" Sagitari said from behind Orphiucha, though it didn't scare her.

"No."

"So this is the place?"

"Yep."

Sagitari stood there in observance and waited, different from her usual self. Her usual mask. There was one more secret in the team, Orphiucha thought. The true side of Sagitari.

"Sagitari," Orphiucha spoke, "You have to tell them. They deserve to hear it, after all."

"I… know, but it scares me. What if they don't like me after that?"

"It was in the past. Besides, if you don't, someone else will tell them and it won't be me."

Sagitari scratched her arm. "So, you saw her?"

"She's going to be in the tournament, you know."

The team leader kept silent, but nodded. "Alright, I will. When we get back, I'll tell Ursus and Liu everything. Just… be there for me too, okay?"

"Of course. After all, we're technically adopted sisters, aren't we?"

Sagitari smiled and nodded. "Right. Sisters till death."

Sagitari left the room for Orphiucha to observe alone. That being said, her examination had coincidentally come to an end. Orphiucha walked towards the door, then looked back one more time.

"Bye, Dad. I'll be sure to bring Mom with me."

Finally, the door was shut.

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant! So sorry for the hiatus. It wasn't a coronavirus thing, I just got a little lazy. Then Final Fantasy 7 Remake came out and... you get the idea. Anyways, I beat the game and I'm ready to type again!

You know, I am kinda curious. To anyone who reads this, do y'all want to start doing a Q and A? If so, send me a private message with your question, and I'll try answer them in my Author's Notes. If not, it's fine. I can talk about current events! Like... y'all see that Seinfeld point-and-click game? That's cool! Uhh...I got nothing. Thanks again for reading, be sure to favorite, follow, or review if you want, and God bless wherever you are!)


	38. Chapter 38: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 38: After – Debt

_I wonder if I should have just let him die. There's no proof he would have turned out like me. _

* * *

Soul woke up in a sweat. Another dream. Another horrific dream. Not one where he was running from a monster. Not one where he was escaping a nightmare. No, it was one where he was the monster. He was the nightmare. So many innocents were slain at his hand. So many...

He quickly sat up from the hay he was sleeping in and put his head in his hands. "I'm Soul," he muttered, "I'm Soul. I'm not a monster. I'm Soul."

He kept muttering this phrase to himself, as if it renewed his humanity. As if it conceding that killing his targets was justice, not petty revenge. Still, the memories of what he did to his father was burned into his brain. No matter how much he believed it to be necessary, he would always carry the burden of that guilt for years to come.

Soul looked up at the barn window and saw a small sliver of light poking through. It was sunrise already. He had to do his chore, the payment he promised to the owners of the barn before he could continue on his way to Mistral City. He dropped his backpack and walked out the door.

* * *

"You're a strange guy, but it's a miracle you came here when we did. We gotta get these crops harvested before the snow arrives."

"Leave it to me!" Soul's cheerful persona spoke, "I can finish this before the day is over even!"

Harvesting. Soul had never done it before, but that didn't mean he wasn't willing to learn. Following the motions of the rabbit faunus farmer, he pulled the root vegetables – carrots and radishes – out of the ground and plopped them into the shoddy baskets. He had to make sure to have a firm grasp, but not to pull so hard that only the grassy end of the veggies came out. It was tough at first, but soon he got himself into a rhythm.

"So," the farmer asked, "Where are you from? Seemed weird when you came in at night asking if you could sleep and have your torn up sweater fixed in exchange for work."

"I'm a drifter," Soul lied, "I've been traveling the world after I graduated from school to see what it has to offer. I got caught up with a few grimm, but managed to escape so my sweater got all roughed up. What about you and your wife? How long have you two been farmers?"

"Oh, thirty years or so. No one messes with us and the other villagers are very nice, so we've enjoyed being here."

Soul nodded. It was starting to look better for faunus/human relationships, though there were still some major hurdles to go through. This village just happened to be on the better side of things. "Seems like a great gig."

"Oh, it has its days, but it's honest work."

"Any troubles?"

The farmer sighed. "Bandits. Say we have to give a fourth of what we grow to them."

Soul perked his head up. "And do you?"

"We don't got a choice in the matter. In fact, that's why I agreed for you to help. We can get these veggies out before they come by, finally."

Soul kept pulling the carrots out, but kept his ear open. Bandits were always the closest options he had to finding the killers. "You know, if you need help, I'd be more than willing to bust some heads. I went to a hunter's academy, after all."

The farmer froze. "Things like these are best ignored. We don't want to rile anything up."

"But, it's no problem. I can-"

"You're a drifter. Even if you win, they'll return demanding even more. Just don't get involved with what you shouldn't."

Soul stopped as well, but finally nodded. Even if they refused, he was going to find the bandits in the area. They were his way to finding Adam. Or that one brown-pink haired girl. Or that woman with burning eyes. "Fine. I'll let them continue to terrorize you all just as they've always done," he said with a slight tinge of morbid humor.

The farmer leaned back down and continued picking. "That's how we want it."

* * *

Soul and the farmer returned to the porch after one of the fields had been entirely picked. At the behest of the farmer, and the polite agreement of Soul, the two were going to take a break. As they walked up, the farmer's wife, an old faunus with the thick tail of a fox, smiled as she continued to sow Soul's sweater. Seeing his repaired clothing made him increase the length of his stride.

"Did you finish?" he excitedly asked.

The old lady nodded and handed it over once she finished. "Just finished it up. Those grimm really did a number on your sweater. I'm impressed you managed to avoid any horrible injuries yourself!"

"I'm just lucky." Soul faked a laugh, as well. In truth, he didn't avoid the injuries. No, every single slash in the sweater's cloth hit its target. He was just thankful that the voice's semblance was still active despite her disappearance.

The farmer interrupted. "Don't sell yourself short. Didn't you say you graduated from a hunter's academy? Where did you graduate from?"

Soul scratched the back of his head. He didn't want to have any more pity about Beacon, so he said a lie. "I came from Mistral's own academy!"

The old lady chuckled. "Well, I didn't know we had a Haven alumni sleeping in our barn!"

"Don't worry about it! As an academy graduate, I've slept in worse conditions."

The woman nodded. "Well, if you're helping us out, I'm glad to give you a place to stay. As long as you don't mind the barn, of course."

"Thanks," Soul shook his head, "But I have to head out as soon as I've paid back my debt."

The farmer then threw a water bottle at the kid, which he promptly caught. "Well then, once we take a little break, we should be able to finish the work before sundown. Heck, maybe even before noon, if you're fast enough."

Soul raised his eyebrow. The faster he worked, the faster he got out of this small dump of a town. "Well, what are we waiting for? I'll go back to work right now!"

Soul emptied his water bottle in one gulp and threw it back to the farmer. "H-Hey," the farmer responded, "You sure you're up for that? I don't want you collapsing!"

"It's fine," he responded back, "I've handled far more than this before."

* * *

As the farmer had predicted, they finished well before sundown, though nowhere near before noon. It was around two o'clock when they had finished the work. With it finished, Soul grabbed his backpack and walked towards the farmers.

"So, do you need help with anything else?" he asked. Of course, he would like to finish his true mission as soon as possible, but he needed to keep appearances for others.

Luckily, though not unexpectedly, the farmer shook his head as he sat down on the porch wiping his face and rabbit ears. "Not at all. Thanks for helping us out today."

Soul smiled and nodded. "Glad to help."

"Are you sure you don't want to have a bite to eat before you leave?" the farmer's wife asked.

"No. I have to head out as soon as I can. Thank you for offering, though."

"Let us know if you need help again," the farmer replied.

"Actually, where is town?"

The farmer pointed. "That way, but look out. The bandits are probably in town today. If you see them, don't be a hero."

Soul shook his head as thanks and walked down the path.

"That's fine by me."

* * *

The village was very small and primitive. Like most villages outside of city limits, it had simple electricity. There were things like air conditioners and lights, but none of the modern conveniences that were found in places like Mistral City. Besides houses, the village had a bar, a small clinic, and a market consisting of three stands. The lack of business made sense, though, considering not many people would come to a no-name place like this.

Soul took a small look through the market for the purpose of stocking food. Various fruits, fish, and meats were lined up on the stands asking for prices far lower than he expected. Not that he'd complain.

"You've got quite a lot of fruits here," he said to the seller whose hat covered her face.

There was no response.

"Hello?"

No response again, except for a loud snore. It made Soul wonder if it was intentional.

"Hey, gramps," a voice said a long distance away from Soul. However, it was not meant for him, so he ignored it.

The quieter voice quivered in fear. "P-please…"

"Whoa, calm down. It's not like we're here to threaten you. We just came to get our protection money, you know? These forests aren't that safe, especially with the increase in grimm."

"But… we need that money. If we don't-"

Soul heard a loud thump, followed by a thud on the ground and a groan.

"What did I say, gramps? Either we get our money, or our protection is through."

Soul let out a loud, intentional scoff. As if the bandits were really protecting the village, he joked to himself.

As expected, the sound caught the attention of the bandits, and Soul heard footsteps from behind walk towards him.

"Was it you, kid?"

Soul kept his eyes on the fruit. The bandit took the silence as disrespect and quickly responded by grabbing Soul by his hair. It took a moment for him to fake pain on his face, but the bandit didn't catch the delay.

"What did I just ask you, kid?"

"No, it wasn't," Soul falsely grumbled out in between imitation grunts of pain.

The bandit took that as the answer he wanted and tossed Soul aside. Once he landed on his back, the fake hunter managed to see the bandit's face. He had a broken tooth, strangely. The hunter then took out a gun and aimed at Soul.

"Listen here!" he announced to the whole village. Those that were outside watched, while those in their houses closed their windows. "I've had it with the amount of disrespect in the area! You're being protected by the bandit group under Raven Branwen. We have a maiden on our side! We have the White Fang on our side, damn it! If you even think of rebelling against us, your little village will be crushed!"

"White Fang?" Soul asked. His fraudulent fear was tossed aside.

The bandit chuckled. "Why should I tell you? After all, you'll be the exam-"

In a time faster than he could react, the bandit was thrown aside by Soul's scarf shooting out of his sleeve. The bandit crashed into one of the market stalls, though the seller sleeping there didn't move a muscle.

"You should tell me," Soul said as he stood back up and pulled his sword out of their sheaths, "because if you don't, I'll kill you."

The bandit jumped out of the stall, then sprinted over to his group. He had a look of fury on his face and pointed at Soul.

"Get that bastard!"

* * *

(Author's Note: Thanks for giving RWBY: Revenant a read! This has been a great enjoyment of mine writing. If you want to know when the next chapter lands, why don't you follow, or favorite, or review? Your choice, though. Anyways, what should we talk about today? Hmm... Well, I've been working on a few short stories (not fan fiction related), and once my contract with my company is over, I plan on submitting them to creative writing journals! I did it once a few years back, but I was rejected and it really lowered my confidence in my writing. However, since then I've gotten significantly better, so I think I could have at least one of the short stories get published. If I do, I'll let you all know! Anyways, thanks again for reading and God bless!)


	39. Chapter 39: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 39: Before – Liu's First Win (Edited)

Liu caught his breath and concentrated. Each dodge, each slash of his sword, every single second - it all mattered. After he jumped a few feet back, his opponent, a larger student named Cardin, charged forward with his mace. Seemed his break wouldn't last that long.

Liu got back in his battle stance, sword forward with his left fist wrapped by his scarf. Cardin may be stronger, but Liu was much faster. The beefy student swung his mace horizontally, prompting Liu to duck under the attack. Quickly, he popped Cardin's gut with a quick jab and jumped away once again.

This time, Liu gasped for air. He was getting more and more tired the longer this fight went on, just as Cardin was getting angrier the more he missed his target. If it went any longer, Liu may actually run the risk of getting hit. Thus, he determined this next exchange should be the last.

Cardin stomped his feet forward for what Liu hoped would be the last time. This time he brought his mace downwards in a position where his elbow was aimed at Liu. In an instant, Liu injected his scarf with bio-electricity under his semblance's control and launched it ahead. The metal cloth then encircled Cardin's attacking arm and guided it. It was just barely, but it was enough to move the mace aside and implant itself half into the ground and half into Liu's foot. He couldn't let the throbbing ache get to him, though. Liu shot a wave of his semblance into his right hand, flipped the blade end away from Cardin, and slammed his enhanced fist into the brute's liver. Cardin's facial expression changed from rage to confusion as a strong sense of pain shot through his body and he was thrown back. The punch was powerful enough, in fact, to hit him out of the arena.

Once Cardin fell off the stage, a loud announcer spoke out. "WINNER! LIU XIU!"

Liu jumped at the sound of the announcer and looked at Cardin regaining his footing then vomiting out his breakfast. Did he actually win?

"Way to go, Liu!" a loud voice yelled from the audience. He didn't need to look around to know that it was Sagitari.

"I… won," he muttered to himself with a smile. His first win in a spar. After so many weeks of losing, he finally won a spar.

"I won!" Liu cheered with a jump. The moment he landed, however, he quickly regretted it as he remembered his crushed toes. Liu limped his way down the stage, but it wasn't enough to stop his moment of blissful happiness.

* * *

"I can't believe it," Liu marveled still as he sat with the three others in the cafeteria. His foot was finally bandaged up, though luckily no bone was broken. His aura would heal it far before their first tournament fight.

"You've definitely grown the most out of all of us," Ursus spoke before sucking on a juice box, "It isn't too surprising that you'd win a spar."

Orphiucha was still chewing on her lunch. "Please? Cardin? He's a chump. Well, at least you know you aren't the weakest of the school."

"Orph!" Sagitari grumbled, "Liu did amazingly!"

The girl laughed back. "I'm only joking. Congrats, Liu. You're not a waste on the team, that's for sure."

Liu rolled his eyes in jest. "Thanks, Orph."

A new voice entered the fray. "That was some smooth fighting out there, Xiu spawn."

Liu didn't even need to turn around to know who it was. "Athos."

"Well, I suppose it makes it all the better for me. It gives me a challenge to beat you when the tournament comes by. Just be sure to win your first round."

Sagitari jumped up. "The battles are posted?!"

Athos dropped his hat and bowed, as he did anytime he talked with a lady. "Of course! In the central hall!"

The girl's face brightened the most it had this entire day in an instant, and she immediately launched herself upward out of her seat. Yet, when she was about to run, she stopped and her smile dropped suddenly. "A-actually, why don't we look at it later?"

"Are you okay, Sagitari?" Liu asked.

She nodded. "Just fine."

She was not. The three could see that she wasn't.

Thankfully, before more awkwardness could occur, Liu's father appeared and surprised the group. "Liu! I heard that you won you're first spar!"

At the sight of Kang, Athos walked away. An aura of resentment filled the air, but it disappeared as Athos left. It made Liu worry, strangely, for the boy.

"Uh, yeah," Liu said, still looking at Athos as he left the cafeteria.

Kang punched his son's shoulder and got the kid's attention pulled towards the group again. "Awesome! I wish I could've been there!"

"You should've seen it, sir!" Sagitari said in her usual bubbly state, "Liu destroyed Cardin!"

"Why didn't you come, sir?" Ursus asked.

Kang's smile dropped. "Let's just say the school wasn't too… happy with letting you four fight an onslaught of grimm. Ozpin was the one who saved me, thankfully."

"Ozpin was fine with it?" Sagitari asked.

Kang shrugged. "Apparently. You can never read the guy, but he never has bad intentions."

"Just as long as you're fine," Orphiucha responded. She seemed to feel indebted to Kang, seeing as he allowed for her to learn the truth of her father.

"Oh!" Kang responded, "I saw who your first battle will be with in the tournament! Pretty tough match-up, though, going against Team KKAT."

At the sound of that, Sagitari's face whitened. "It can't be… that little…"

Without telling anyone, she stood up and sprinted out the cafeteria, leaving the three to their own devices. Soul and Ursus looked at one another with confusion. Orphiucha, however, looked down with a burdened expression.

"I swear," she said, "I told her to tell you guys before this happened."

"What do you mean?" Liu asked.

Orphiucha shook her head, then turned towards Kang. "Sorry, sir, but could you let us leave?"

Kang tilted his head. "You don't need to ask me."

Orphiucha nodded. "Alright," she answered, "Let's go."

* * *

By the time Liu and the group caught up to Sagitari, she was already reading the tournament board. Over and over, she read it, as her face continued to lose color.

"Tari!" Orphiucha said, "Sit down!"

Sagitari, obediently, nodded, turned around, and sat down at the nearby bench. Her eyes were wide with surprise. Even when she rested her head on the top of her hands, she couldn't stop aimlessly staring into the distance.

"What's wrong?" Liu asked.

Orphiucha looked up at the board, and cynically nodded. "Yep, I knew it."

Liu looked up as well until he found their team name, then the team below them: Team KKAT. The team they were set to fight.

_Names: Kan Foo, Kravma Ga, Ai Keedo, and Ty Jee._

"Who's Kan?" Liu asked.

"It's her," Sagitari muttered, "She's the one… I-"

"Betrayed…," a new person said from nearby the group. Liu turned toward it to find a black-haired girl with two pony-tails and purple eyes. The girl was wearing a coat that very much resembled Mistral clothing, but the sleeves were elongated. She also had a contemptible smile on her face, aimed directly at the deathly shocked Sagitari. Despite the smile, though, her eyes had a deep, boiling resentment in them. Eyes that had a history.

"Kan…," Sagitari muttered. Even Orphiucha putting her hand on Sagitari's shoulder didn't calm her.

"Hello, Sagitari."

"Kan, I'm so-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Kan came forward and slapped Sagitari on her face.

"Hey!" Orphiucha yelled as he got between the two girls, "Don't you dare touch her like that!"

"Or what, Orph? You'll attack me in public? Betray me just like her? Though, you are still with her, so I guess you've already commit betrayal."

Orphiucha said nothing and gritted her teeth, but still held her ground between the two girls, eyes locked with Kan. Her face contained a fury Liu had yet to see from her. The snake iris' suddenly started to glow a slight red, indicating she was activating her semblance.

However, before anything could happen, Sagitari grabbed Orphiucha's shoulder and pulled her backwards. "It's fine," she grumbled, "I can handle something like a slap."

"Indeed," Kan gloated with a look of revenge in her eyes, "After all, you deserve something far worse."

Ursus came forward. "Sorry, but you need to leave," he said sternly. Liu could see his face darken with anger.

At first, Kan was taken aback by his large size, but quickly proceeded to laugh. "Oh, you blind fools, following your team leader like she's the perfect role model. Perhaps I should tell you all about her betrayal."

"Betrayal?" Liu asked. "What are you even saying? Sagitari would never betray her friends."

"Oh, indeed she would! Let me tell you about when she…"

"Kan," Sagitari firmly stated, "Please, leave us alone. We'll fight in the tournament."

Kan's pleasure in her enemy's discomfort did not hesitate for a minute. "Oh, fine, but remember: No cheating."

With a small laugh, the girl walked down the hall. The four watched as she walked further and further down, and her laughter's echoes quieted down. Once she finally turned the hallway, Liu, Ursus, and Orphiucha stood around Sagitari, who sat on the chair with a guilty look.

"Sagitari," Liu asked, "Who was that?"

Sagitari made no loud excuse or exclamation. She didn't bounce out of her chair, nor did she laugh it off. She didn't have a warm smile, nor did she throw her hands in the air. She just sat there, quiet as a mouse, while her head was down. It was the most out of character she had ever been.

Then, she stood up from the bench, and with wavering breath, spoke. "I-I can't. Orphiucha, I can't do it!"

Faster than anyone's reactions, Sagitari bolted past the team through the hall opposite of where Kan went. In an instant, their team leader was gone, just as their faith in her wavered.

* * *

(Author's Note: Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant! If you enjoy this, be sure to follow, favorite, or review it! There's quite a bit more where it came from. Anyways, here's an interesting fact: Did you know I named the characters in Team SOUL of constellations? Indeed, Sagitari comes from Sagitarius, Orphiucha comes from Orphiuchus, Ursus comes from Ursa Major/Minor (which is confusing when grimm are involved), and Liu's comes from the Chinese constellations, more specifically the "willow" constellation. In fact, a lot of names I use come from certain things: Athos' name comes from the Three Musketeers, Jazz's gang is all based around music, and the Edelweiss name is from the Sound of Music (which I love). So if you see a new character, it may have a name connected to something! Anyways, thanks for reading and God bless!)

(Author's Author Note: Sorry! I had to edit this for the sake of future chapters! It's a very, VERY small change, but I felt it would be weird if I didn't do it. Anyways, sorry! New chapters coming out soon!)


	40. Chapter 40: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 40: After – Bandits

_I… truthfully, I didn't want any of this. I didn't want Liu to go so far that he'd kill. I didn't want him to continue to lie to himself. I didn't want him to continue being… this. _

_I didn't want him to keep being a monster._

* * *

The first thing Soul did was get shot.

The bandit fired a set of three bullets into his arm, leg, and stomach. The pain was, as usual, unbearable. It was enough to make him bend over and kneel down. Even with enhanced healing, pain always felt the same.

Soul could hear the bandit laugh. "You may have punched me, but you're just a person. Ain't no way you can win against a gun with your little knives."

Soul felt the blood drain from his wounds. He touched each one and saw the blood on his hand. It stung so badly, he could hardly think of anything else.

But soon, the pain faded. The blood quickly cloted and stopped flowing out. The wounds and holes that had been put into his skin were also sown together as the bullets were forced out. In a matter of seconds, Soul looked as unharmed as he did before. It was enough to make him laugh out loud.

Soul stood back up and grinned menacingly. This was his plan. He could see the psychological damage that hit the bandit group. It was understandable, though. They were fighting an invincible opponent, after all. The bandit leader just stared as he dropped the gun and started walking backwards.

"Sorry, but you guys aren't going anywhere," Soul spoke.

Within a split-second, Soul leapt forward. _Ten,_ he counted to himself. Ten bandits to take down. Rather than attack the closest, he took this chance to show off his strength, in the hopes it would make the group back down. To the untrained eye, Soul practically teleported into a blur that appeared by the other side of the bandits, towards the furthest, most cowardly one.

The coward very nearly fell on his butt when he witnessed Soul appear before his eyes, but there was no time for that to occur. The false hunter had already slammed his hilt into their jaw. _Nine,_ he recounted once his first attack threw the bandit onto his back.

Soul wanted to get this done. Without turning around, he injected his whole body with his semblance, a trick he seldom used due to the pain afterwards. Regardless, it made this whole process faster. His legs, his arms, his torso, even his brain – all of it was enhanced. His muscles felt ten times stronger, though they looked about the same as before. His senses increased accordingly and soon he could too sense bio-electricity reverberating from every living thing. Even the voice's healing semblance felt stronger, though he would have to experiment with it to check.

A few brave bandits were running towards him, as indicated by his semblance. Soul gritted his teeth as he spun around and slammed his elbow into one of them. The poor soul was launched right into another market stand and refused to move after she crashed. Another tried to punch Soul, but his enhanced reflexes and senses made the attacker look like a sloth. Soul moved his head aside, then crashed his forehead into the attacker. The impact made him drop like a twig.

_Seven. _Soul was starting to feel a bit of pain. He threw his scarf forward and caught another unfortunate bandit by the leg. They tried to fight it off, but Soul's semblance made the scarf far too strong, and soon the man was lifted off the ground. The last brave attacker tried to use that as a distraction, but Soul merely dodged out of the way of the knife attacks and threw his catch onto the bandit. Once the two were on the ground, Soul walked forward, touched both of their heads, and forced his semblance into their bodies, shocking the living daylights out of them. In only a few seconds, the two became unconscious.

_Fi- _Another four bullets implanted themselves into Soul. He had to brace his legs to keep himself from falling, but the bullets did little to stop him other than give him a fresh feeling of pain. At a far quicker speed, however, the bullets dropped out and the wounds easily stitched themselves back to normal. Once it was fully healed, Soul made eye contact with the group's leader and found himself grinned madly and uncontrollably.

"So. So. You want to die? Die?" Again, Soul found himself involuntarily repeating words, but it didn't stop him from feeling... good. It was a strange feeling, but not unwanted. It was like that one time when he was fighting his father.

Soul then leapt into the center of the five remaining bandits and spun around with his foot out. His speed tripped two of the closest bandits, which he then proceeded to kick the snot out of one. The impact sent them flying. For the second, however, Soul jumped on top of them and proceed to slam his fists into their face. It only took two punches to knock the guy out, but Soul was far from stopping.

He threw three punches.

Four punches. Five. Six. Seven. It was all too good.

At his eighth punch, however, he was shot again. Rather than getting shot backwards, however, he instead stood up as the bullets dropped out of his skin yet again.

"Three," Soul muttered. "You're getting very annoying with that gun. Gun."

"What ARE you?" the group leader fearfully questioned.

Soul grinned. "I'm Soul."

One of the bandits behind him then slammed a brick into the back of his head. While the crack of the solid object made Soul drop his head a bit, it did nothing to stop his attacks. Without looking, Soul grabbed the bandit behind him and threw with his superhuman strength.

_Two. _Soul sheathed he blades and came towards the bandit's leader while his gun was being reloaded. A perfect time. Soul grabbed the firearm and crushed it in his hands, grabbed the bandit's head with his other hand, and finally crashed his knee into the leader's face. Soul didn't even need to look to tell that the leader was out cold.

_One. _Finally, there was one left. Soul spun around to the single standing person in the center of the street. It had to be a kid compared to the other bandits, possibly even younger than Soul himself. The boy was quivering in his boots as he looked around at the groaning bodies strewn across the ground. Yet, he didn't run. Perhaps the fear took any will to run out of him. It reminded him a bit of Liu. But that was the past. Soul was the present. Any reservations that appeared in his heart were shrugged off, returning him back into his sadistic state of mind. The grin appeared on his face once again, and pleasure returned to his brain at the sight of the suffering he had caused to the villains.

It made him so happy, Soul decided that a little more time to play wouldn't hurt anyone.

The sadistic fake hunter walked ever so slowly. The boy's focus returned to the front, yet he still couldn't muster the courage to retreat. Each step must've been like a step closer to doom for the kid. Soul would've felt some pity, but he chose not to do so. He instead walked closer and closer until he was just a couple of feet away.

"What's your name? Name?" Soul asked.

The boy didn't respond.

Soul chuckled. "Well, I think I need to use one of you as an example. Example. Example. That should keep you bandits from attacking this village any longer. Longer."

The boy's eyes widened.

"Oh, what's that look? You should expect something like this. This. After all, you all are just bandits. You destroy, rob, and kill. Why shouldn't I do the same to you?"

Soul then unsheathed his long single-edged blade and readied it, though he planned not to go that far. In truth, he would stop just before stabbing the bandit in order to elicit some more terror. After that, he'd have them take him to their leader. Without any use of his enhanced muscles, Soul came forward and lunged his blade in a fun attempt to get a reaction out of the kid.

How unfortunate it became, then.

"Terry!"

Soul, despite his enhanced form, did not have enough speed to move his sword when one of the bandits – the woman he punched into the market stand – jumped in between him and the boy. Soul's smile dropped as the sword implanted itself into her chest. Almost immediately, Soul pulled his sword out, but it was far too late. Soul could see her skin whitening as blood dripped from her wound. He could see every muscle lose its strength as she fell onto the ground. He could see what he had caused.

"No!" the boy yelled. He speedily dropped down to his knees and put his arm under her head.

"Terry…," she weakly muttered. She raised her hand up and touched his face.

"You're gonna be okay, just hold on!" he feverishly spoke. He tried to tear parts of his clothes off and wrap it around the wound, but it was far too late. The woman's eyes fluttered a bit, but they soon lost their life. Within the minute, she dropped her hand from the boy's cheek, though the kid caught it and held on.

"Please! Edna! Don't… don't die on me!"

Soul himself back stepped away from the situation in confusion. In shock. He couldn't express what he was feeling, and he didn't know how to react. Did he cause this? Soul looked at his hands.

"I'm Soul," he whispered to himself, "I'm Soul. I'm Soul." _That's right_, he thought, _It was just a mistake. Mistakes happen. I didn't cause it then. It was for Team SOUL's sake, right? _

Hundreds of explanations ran through his head, some of which contradicted others. Some said he didn't cause her death. Others said he did. Soul didn't know what to think, as his mind ran faster than he could process anything. In frustration of his thoughts, Soul grabbed his head. He couldn't be a monster. He couldn't be like those that killed his friends, right? He couldn't… He couldn't….

"You killed my sister," a voice shook Soul out of his internal battle. He turned around at just the right moment to find a blur stab him in the gut. Looking down, he found the source: the boy, with tears in his eyes, impaled Soul with a small knife. It hurt, of course, but Soul's healing was more than enough to take care of any actual damage.

The boy knew this, however, and yelled in rage as he proceeded to stab Soul over and over. "You killed her! You monster!"

After the fifth stab, Soul finally got his bearings and punched the boy aside. He had his own goal, after all.

"Stay down, unless you want to be like her. Her," he regretfully muttered to the boy on the ground.

"No," the kid responded, "I don't care what happens to me. You took the only family I had. The only family I cared about! I will do everything I can to make sure you pay for what you did!"

Soul was shocked at the kid's rebirth. What was once a scared teenager became a confident killer dead-set on revenge. Almost like Soul.

No, exactly like Soul. That couldn't happen.

The boy stood back up and ran, knife in hand. His movements were crazed, almost like a grimm. In the final stretch between him and Soul, he leapt in the air, intent on bringing his blade down as such. However, it was far too predictable, and Soul managed to catch him by the neck. Even then, the boy moved with rage, trying desperately to break free from his captors hold. He thrusted his knife into the arm again and again, hoping that he could get free and stab elsewhere.

If left unchecked, this kid would destroy anything in front of him. He would give up friends and home, and travel anywhere in the world. He would give up health. He would give up love. He would give up life itself, all for the sake of killing Soul. It wouldn't matter if he had others around him. He would give it all up.

Soul knew that all too well. There was only one cure for this, and the thought of it made him grit his teeth.

"I'm… sorry," Soul said to the feral boy, "I didn't mean to kill her, but I guess those are just empty words to you. You. It never should have been like this. This."

"However," he continued, "I have to clean up what has been done now. It'll be painless. Painless."

Soul pulled all of the bio-electricity out of his body and thrusted it into the kid's brain as fast as possible. The pain was unbearable for Soul. His muscles were torn apart. His bones were cracked. His head ached with a migraine that felt like fire. Yet, at the very least, the boy felt none of that as Soul's semblance pulsed through his head. In an instant, the boy's eyes, once filled with hatred and anger, was now as lifeless as his sister's. The boy dropped his knife while his hand went limp.

"I'm… so sorry," Soul managed to groan through the pain.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm…"

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Hello! Thanks so much for reading RWBY: Revenant! And happy fortieth chapter! Dang, its crazy that only half a year ago, I started this. Time really flies! Anyways, thanks again! Have a good day/night and God bless!)


	41. Chapter 41: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 41: Before – Sagitari's Origins

Liu sprinted through the east halls, searching far and wide for their team leader. He dodged through students and teachers alike, jumped over chairs and benches, and stomped up sets upon sets of staircases. He ran through the hallways so many times, he'd lost count. He asked every living thing he could find if they had seen Sagitari. Yet, there was no sign of her anywhere.

After the ninth or tenth run-through, Liu sat down at the bench in the nearby courtyard, closed his eyes, and thought back to what Orphiucha told him.

_"Ursus, you go check the dorms and outside around the school. Liu, you search the halls. I'll be looking and asking around town."_

_ "Orph," Liu asked, "What is she not telling us? What are you not telling us?"_

_ Orphiucha sighed. "I wish I could tell you, but this is something she has to share with you two. If I tell it, it has no meaning."_

_ Liu nodded. _

_ "Just… when she tells you, don't hate her. It was in the past."_

Liu opened his eyes back up. What was so awful that Sagitari couldn't tell the group? Did she fight someone she shouldn't have? Did she kill? Did she do something even worse? It made him shudder just thinking about what the possibilities could be. He sat there deep in thought for minutes, trying to meditate upon who Sagitari was. He knew there was something deeper to the girl beyond just exercises and cheerfulness. He had seen glimpses when she was angry or sad. So, what was it?

Liu thought so hard, in fact, that he didn't notice when a random girl walked towards him.

"E-excuse me?" a quiet voice muttered, finally shaking Liu out of his stupor. He looked up to find a blue-haired girl with glasses shyly blush.

"Are you with Team SOUL?" she asked.

Not sure how to react, Liu just gave a small nod, accompanied by a short "yes."

The girl smiled at the sound. "Great! I'm Ai Keedo."

Ai Keedo. That name sounded familiar….

Liu jumped up. "You're with Team KKAT!"

The surprised girl nearly yelped before falling on her butt.

"Oh! Sorry, are you okay?" Liu asked. He outstretched his hand.

Ai scratched her head and gave a small chuckle. "Y-yeah, you just surprised me is all. I didn't expect you to react like that."

After helping her up, the two sat down on the bench. "So, what did you want to ask?" Liu questioned.

Ai just shook her head. "No, it's not that. I just wanted to see what kind of people were on your team. Call it curiosity."

"You must be the most strategic of the group then?"

Again, Ai shook her head. "Well, I wouldn't normally do it, but then again, our teams have some history between one another."

"Wait, do you know Sagitari?!"

Again, the loud question shocked Ai, causing her to flinch. "Y-you could say that. Though I wasn't nearly as close to her as Kan was. Even though both of us came from the same orphanage, Kan seemed to connect with her more."

Liu tilted his head. "Orphanage?"

"You didn't know? Sagitari was originally from an orphanage. You wouldn't guess it by how she acts. Though to be honest, I think that exact reason is why she acts how she does."

"And Kan?"

Ai shook her head. "Kan has a mom and dad. Rich ones, in fact. Despite our social differences, though, she got along really well with us..."

* * *

**Six Years Earlier**

Ai wiped her glasses and sighed as she watched the girl she called a friend do all kinds of exercises in the park. She squatted, she ran, she did push-ups – she did everything. Though it wouldn't be common to warrant stares from such actions, the amount she managed created quite the crowd, though they tried to disguise themselves as minding their own businesses. Money was being stealthily passed between them. Ai was sure some were betting on when she would stop. Would it be 1000? 2000? Even Ai was shocked at the actual number.

"Ai! When do we need to go back?" Sagitari asked in between exercises.

"Dinner starts at 5:30," she mumbled back.

Sagitari's teeth gleamed. "Great! That means I have just enough time to finish these sets!"

Ai groaned and covered her face in hopes that she wouldn't be tagged alongside the weirdo she struggled to call a friend, but it was too late. People were already taking pictures.

"Come on, Sagitari! Let's just go back to the orphanage already."

The girl frowned back. "But I haven't completed my exercises yet!"

"Who cares?! People are looking!"

Sagitari scowled "Let them stare! You don't become a huntress out of caution!"

Ai sighed and waved her hand in dismissal. In truth, as much as she wanted to leave, she could not. Upon strict rules from the orphanage, anytime kids went out, they had to leave in groups of two or more. It aggravated her, but rules were rules, even if she had to go to the park with her childhood "friend."

"You need to live a little," Sagitari responded as she stretched. "You can't live your life full of rules."

"S-so what? I like rules!" Ai replied defensively.

Sagitari just gave a small chuckle, but her exercises were cut short when a small cry was heard. Though it was quiet, it was rather obvious from where they were standing. The sound stopped Sagitari completely, and she turned around to Ai.

"We have to help!"

Ai rolled her eyes at the girl's instantaneous decision. "Ms. Huntress again, I see."

"Don't you know it," Sagitari grinned.

* * *

It didn't take long for the two to find the source of the cry. In only a minute or two, Sagitari had located the tree that seemed to sound as if it were shedding tears.

"I can't believe it!" Sagitari marveled. "A crying tree!"

Ai rubbed her brow at the stupidity of her friend. "Do you- Are you…. Seriously!? Do you seriously think that?"

She then stomped over to the other side of the tree and pointed at the true source. "Someone's behind here!"

Ai finally looked to where she pointed to find a short girl with black, long hair. She was wearing a small t-shirt with shorts, though she looked a little disheveled. The red marks on her face seemed to indicate that she had been crying for several minutes.

Sagitari quickly ran over and widened her eyes at the sight. "Oh, no! Are you okay?" she immediately asked as she sat down with the girl.

However, the sudden appearance of slightly taller strangers caused her to pull herself closer to the tree and hunker down. She cried even louder and kept her face buried in her knees.

"Look what you did!" Ai said.

Sagitari waved her hand in silence to quiet down Ai, then shifted her focus back to the girl. Still keeping a small distance, she tried once again to get the girl's attention.

"I'm sorry I scared you," she said, "You see, my name's Sagitari and I'm a huntress-in-training! It's my job to help people in trouble."

Ai rolled her eyes again at her friend calling her interest a "job," as if she had a responsibility. Still, it managed to get the girl's attention as she looked up from her knees at Sagitari.

Sagitari smiled warmly and spoke. "You have very beautiful hair, you know. You shouldn't let it touch the ground."

Upon hearing that, the girl blushed and pulled her hair up onto her shoulder. "Y-you, too," she sniffled back.

Sagitari touched her brown shoulder-length hair and smiled. "Not at all!"

The short girl opened her defensive position a little bit. "Y-you're a huntress?"

"Not yet, but I hope to be! I'm working really hard so I can get accepted into Signal Academy."

The girl gave a small smile.

Sagitari gleamed back. "So, what's the problem?"

"I-I got lost."

"Got lost, huh? Are your mom and dad here?"

She nodded.

"Okay, then," Sagitari said as she got back up and raised her hand towards the girl. "Why don't we look for them together?"

The girl froze, but finally nodded and took the huntress-in-training's hand.

"So what's your name?" Sagitari asked while the two walked away from the tree and onto the concrete sidewalk. Ai followed quickly behind.

"Kan," she whispered.

* * *

"Kan!" a new voice yelled.

Ai sighed in relief when they finally found Kan's parents. In the instant that the girl realized her mom and dad were there, she let go of Sagitari's hand and latched onto the two like glue while they hugged back.

"Just another hard day of work!" Sagitari cheered with a fist thrust in the air.

"As if you do this every day," Ai joked.

Sagitari tapped her foot back. "I do this sometimes!"

"Thank you so much for finding our daughter!" the mother interrupted.

Sagitari shook her head and turned towards her. "Oh, it was no problem! I am a huntress-in-training, after all!"

Ai looked at her watch to look busy. "Sagitari, we need to run. Dinner is about to start!"

If there was anything the girl loved more than exercise, it was food. She drooled and nodded.

"Sorry, but we need to run!" she spoke loudly to the trio.

"Wait!" Kan said. She reached her hand outwards.

"What is it?" Sagitari asked as she jogged in place.

"Could… could we see each other again?"

Sagitari tilted her head, but then laughed and nodded. "Of course! I'm always in the park for my exercises, so you'll know where to find me!"

"That is if I want to come, as well," Ai reminded.

"Eh, don't worry about her," Sagitari said to Kan, "Ai doesn't say it, but she enjoys coming to the park with me."

"Hey!" Ai complained.

Kan laughed, then nodded with a smile. "Okay! Bye-bye!"

* * *

**Present Day**

"After that, Kan idolized Sagitari. So much so that she wanted to become a huntress, as well."

"What about you?" Liu asked.

Ai scratched her head. "The feeling was… contagious, I suppose. Thus, the three of us went to Signal Academy together. Of course, that was where we made our full group of four: Sagitari, Kan, me, and-"

"Me," a new voice spoke. Liu violently turned around to find Orphiucha standing with an intentionally blank look on her face.

"Orph…," Ai muttered while looking away.

"Ai. It's been a while."

"I'm-"

Orphiucha shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be saying that. After all, I'm the one sticking with Sagitari."

Ai shook her head. "No, don't worry. She… needed someone. Just like how Kan needs someone. Especially with _him_ so close."

Orphiucha nodded in respect, then turned towards Liu. "We found Sagitari. She's sitting down on that one roof we sat on during the dance."

Liu stood back up. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Do you want to come as well?" Orphiucha awkwardly asked.

Ai shook her head. "I shouldn't with how things are between her and Kan. Please send my regards, though."

Liu waved back. "Thanks for the talk, Ai. I hope we'll have a fun match!"

Ai smiled, though sorrow flashed on her face.

"If only."

* * *

"She seems nice," Liu said as the two walked down the empty hallways. All classes must have ended already.

"She is," was all that Orphiucha would muster.

"How come she isn't as aggressive towards Sagitari as Kan was?"

Orphiucha sighed. "There are some people that can understand when mistakes are mistakes. Sagitari made a mistake in the past and Ai knows this. On the other hand, Kan was the victim of what happened and witnessed her role model crack before her eyes. It's only natural she'd feel animosity towards our team leader."

"And what exactly was it that happened?"

Orphiucha shook her head. "You and Ursus deserve to hear it from Sagitari herself."

* * *

Upon opening the roof door, Liu found Ursus standing beside Sagitari as she sat, lacking any sort of her usual cheerfulness. Her eyes were glued to her feet, but upon seeing the two, she tried to muster a fake smile. "The gang's all here."

"Tari," Orphiucha firmly spoke, "You have to tell them."

She hesitantly nodded. "I-I know. I really don't want to, but I know they need to know."

She then pulled herself up and turned away from the group. "The sun's going down in an hour or so, you know."

Liu looked at Ursus, who just shrugged. "Uh, what?"

"It's just like back then," she continued.

"Back when it started. Back when I almost killed Kan."

* * *

Ai was still sitting on the bench, thinking about how the battle would go. Would she be the one to fight Orphiucha? It could be safe for both. Of course, in terms of safety, she should be the one to fight Liu then. The most inexperienced of the four. The most weak-willed. The puppy upon a pack of wolves. With her handling him, he could just be knocked unconscious. It'd be better than having _that _guy fight-

Ai jolted at the sight of a moving shadow. She felt her heart rate shoot up at just a little movement. However, upon realizing it was her own shadow, she gave out a little chuckle.

_Of course, _she thought, _he can't move the shadows of living things._

Just to be sure, she spoke out loud. "Kravma?"

No response.

Feeling slightly unsettled at the number of shadows surrounding her, she stood up from the bench and started power walking out of the courtyard. Yet, as she spun around, she swore she could see it yet again.

A freakishly smiling face on the courtyard tree's shadow.

* * *

(Author's Note: Who is this strange shadow? Who is Sagitari truly? Find out next time on RWBY: Revenant! Anyways, I'm gonna do a character poll soon. Turns out you can do this kind of stuff on the website, so I'll do that after Sagitari's arc. I am very curious to see which character is the most popular. So be ready for that, I suppose. Thanks again for reading RWBY: Revenant, and God bless!)


	42. Chapter 42: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 42: Before – Sagitari

"Back at Signal Academy, there was me, Kan, Orphiucha, and a girl named Ai."

"We saw her, as well," Orphiucha interrupted. "She told Liu about how you and Kan first met."

Sagitari wore a small smile when Ai was mentioned, but solemnly nodded. "Right. Ai and I were orphans. For a long time, we lived in a very good orphanage together, so we grew up as friends, but it wasn't until we were eleven that we first met Kan. She was quite the crybaby, so it surprised me, even more, when she said she wanted to become a huntress. I suppose it was my influence, as she really looked up to me.

"Anyways, the three of us eventually joined Signal Academy…"

* * *

**Five years ago**

Sagitari jumped for joy. She was here, at Signal Academy. Her first step to becoming a huntress. Finally, she would build her weapons, discover her semblance, and learn all she could for fighting grimm.

Of course, Ai was here to bring her back to reality with a slap on the back.

"Don't act like you've already been accepted," Ai brought up, "There isn't a physical test, so the interview is the most important thing here."

"I know that! And I'll ace it, too!"

Sagitari's friend rolled her eyes. "Look, just remember to answer how I told you to. Interviewers don't like it when you yell in their face."

"Okay, fine, but do I really need to wear this dress?" Sagitari grumbled. She picked up the long, blue skirt that touched just below her knees in disgust. It felt disturbing to her having her legs this open. She'd much prefer her jeans and jacket.

"Yes! Sheesh, quit your whining."

Sagitari grumbled to herself. "I hate wearing dresses."

Ai shook her head, but before chiding anymore, a man came out from the door they sat by. "Ai Keedo?" the blond-haired man asked.

"Well, it looks like I'm up first. Wish me luck," she said as she stood up from the bench.

Sagitari gave a big thumbs up. "Good luck!"

Ai responded with a small chuckle, then walked into the open door with the blonde teacher. As confident as Sagitari usually was, seeing the door close brought butterflies to life in her stomach. She wanted so badly to be in the school, but that desire also ignited a wave of nervous emotions throughout her body. It made her so nervous, in fact, that she relied on squats to take her mind off of the interview.

Thankfully, a familiar voice appeared that calmed her down. "Sagitari!" Kan yelled while running towards her.

"Kan!" Sagitari stopped her exercise and cheerfully replied.

"Sorry, I'm late! Great dress! Did you go in yet?"

Sagitari shook her head and ignored the bit about her dress. "No, but Ai just walked in. I think that means I'm next."

"Then I'll go after you!" Kan smiled. Sagitari felt something different about her, but she wasn't sure. She looked as closely as she could, but still it didn't connect in her brain. New clothing? No, it was a typical dress meant for these kinds of interviews, with a quality that far exceeded the one Sagitari borrowed from Ai. It was something on Kan's head that was different.

Kan noticed this and kept smiling. "Notice anything strange?"

Sagitari stared for a few seconds before it finally hit. She jumped up and yelped. "You're wearing your hair differently!"

Kan nodded and pulled on her pigtails. "Yeah! I thought since I'm going to this school, I may as well change my hair."

And, almost immediately, Kan jumped to conclusions and teared up slightly. "You don't like it?"

Sagitari shook her hands to stop her friend from crying. "No, I like it a lot! I was just surprised."

Kan beamed yet again. "Thank you!"

All of a sudden, the door opened as fast as it had closed, and Ai walked out with a smile.

"I made it!"

"Congratulations!" Kan cheered.

"Oh, did you just make it here, Kan?"

She nodded back. "Yep!"

Sagitari smiled, but she still didn't stop feeling nervous. In fact, the feeling was only exacerbated after hearing Ai. After all, she was the smart one. It made sense that she could make it through an interview, but Sagitari? She always had trouble with the smart stuff.

"Do you two think… I'll make it?" she asked, eliciting surprise on their faces.

Yet immediately, Kan came forward and grabbed her hands. "Of course! You didn't train at the park for nothing, Sagitari! I know you can make it!"

Ai nodded. "Don't worry. You'll do fine."

Sagitari smiled again. "Thanks, you guys."

Like before, the door opened, and the blonde-haired teacher came out once again.

"Sagitari Kaus?" he asked.

* * *

"My name is Taiyang Xiao Long, and I'm a teacher of this academy. So, Sagitari, tell me a bit about yourself," the teacher spoke after Sagitari sat on the chair in front of the desk. The room was well lit, and the tiled floor sparkled as if it has just been waxed. As expected, a bookshelf leaned on one side of the room with books from several different genres placed inside it.

Sagitari shook her head and stopped looking around. "My name is Sagitari Kaus."

Taiyang gave a small chuckle. "I know. Tell me more about you other than your name."

"I'm an orphan."

Taiyang tapped his clipboard, then wrote a little. Sagitari felt devastated from the sight of that.

"Next question: How many grimm types do you know, and can you name them out?"

"W-well, there's the wolf one, the bear one, and the bird one. There's also the scorpion one," Sagitari stuttered out.

Taiyang wrote again. The girl could feel her face blush in embarrassment.

"Okay, Sagitari, how do you picture yourself fighting grimm?"

"P-punching."

Taiyang gave a small smile. "Oh, so you're more of a martial artist than a weapons fighter? That's the same for me."

Sagitari just nodded. Taiyang gave a nervous chuckle to fill the silence, then wrote some more on his clipboard.

"Okay, Sagitari, say you have a group of bandits and a group of villagers, both of which are getting attacked by grimm. If you are too slow, they will die. Which do you save first?"

Sagitari rubbed her head. "I… I, uh, don't know. Both are people, aren't they?"

Taiyang wrote some more. Sagitari squeezed her legs as her face grew even redder.

"Okay, final question: Why do you want to become a huntress?"

Sagitari clenched her fists. In this instant, she threw away all that Ai had told her how to act, and returned to her original state. If she was going to be declined, she may as well go out with a bang. With one foot stomp, she stood up and smiled at the prospect of being a huntress.

"Because… huntresses are so cool! Fighting grimm and protecting civilians may sound annoying to others, but to me it sounds like a dream. Besides, I've had so many good people in my life, and I think this is the best way for me to repay them. So, I want more than anything to become a huntress, because I honestly can't see myself doing anything else!"

Taiyang was slightly taken aback at the girl's sudden conviction, but smiled nonetheless at her passion. "You know, I have a daughter just like you. She's a bit younger, but she wants to be a huntress so bad."

Sagitari nodded. "I can understand."

Taiyang gave a small laugh. Then, he proceeded to finish writing on his clipboard. "Welcome to Signal."

"B-but I answered horribly for the other questions."

"Don't worry. You come to Signal to learn those things. Like I said, welcome to Signal."

* * *

**Present Day**

"I was so happy when I got accepted. In fact, I don't think I've ever been happier than that day.

"And so, the three of us, and later the four of us after becoming friends with Orphiucha, spent four years at that place. We studied, made our weapons, and discovered out semblances. Ai and Orphiucha complained every now and then, but me? I loved it. Even the hard stuff."

Unexpectedly, Sagitari slammed her fist into the side of the stone, creating cracks from the impact. It made Liu and Ursus jump. "It should've stayed like that. The four of us would have become a team and stayed friends, if only I were smarter. If only I didn't almost let Kan die.

"If only I didn't listen to _him_."

* * *

**One and a half years ago**

The battlefield. This was where Sagitari felt the most comfortable. Even when she was outmatched, she felt alive. Heck, she wanted to be outmatched. At least that's what she told herself, despite the fact she had yet to fight a grimm.

She did a backflip, dodging a chop thrown by Kan. Still, Kan was not one to give up. Just as Sagitari landed, the shorter girl dashed forward and kicked upwards. Sagitari just barely blocked it, though the impact against her arm actually lifted her a couple of inches.

She took this as her chance. Sagitari then brought her other hand up and latched onto Kan's leg, stomped her feet onto the ground, and threw her friend towards the edge of the elevated practice arena. Despite all her strength, Kan still had enough power to keep herself from falling, but Sagitari was not one to give up. As Kan tried to regain her balance, the taller girl sprinted towards her and unleashed an onslaught of punches. Yet, Kan had already taken a defensive stance, holding her palms out and catching each fist as fast as she could. Every encroaching hand was met by another hand. Every impact was met with resistance. Sagitari was rather surprised that the scared girl she had met in the park had gotten this strong.

But she still wasn't outmatched.

Immediately, Sagitari increased her speed, already noticing Kan faltering. Her face started to lose confidence as each fist came closer and closer to striking her. Her arms tried to match the faster pace, but ultimately couldn't handle it. Sagitari then amplified her physical abilities with her semblance and moved at an even greater speed. Soon, Kan grew exhausted, and Sagitari could even notice her slowing down.

Then, Kan slipped.

Sagitari's eyes gleamed when the opportunity arose. Kan's palm missed the projected next strike, giving a clear chance for Sagitari. Her fist moved through the broken guard and, without even stopping, reached for Kan's face…

And tapped it.

"Looks like I win," Sagitari grinned.

Kan flinched initially, but opened her eyes after Sagitari announced her victory. "Come on, you haven't won yet! I'm still in the arena, after a-"

The short girl gave a quick yelp when Sagitari pushed her off the arena platform, sending her down a small three-foot fall. After the small thud of Kan's back hitting the ground, Sagitari snickered. "Now it looks like it's my win."

"Hey!" Kan grumbled, "What was that for?"

Sagitari kept laughing, but jumped down and offered her hand. "Sorry, I'm just having some fun with you."

Kan frowned for a bit, but relented and gave a small smile on the edge of her mouth. She grabbed Sagitari's hand and pulled herself up. "Still, you're incredible Sagitari! It's no wonder you're one of the best at the academy."

"Oh please, you're not too bad yourself. Besides, I have a lot more to go."

Kan gasped. "That means you'll be even more amazing!"

Sagitari waved her hands. "No way! Like I said, I got a while before I become good!"

* * *

In truth, Sagitari was worried, stressed, and anxious. She didn't for the life of her know where the next step in becoming a huntress would take her. She didn't know which academy she wanted to go to. She didn't know how the academies accepted students. She didn't even know if she would make it. That alone made her worry immensely.

This anxiety was shown on her face, even as she and her three friends, Kan, Ai, and Orphiucha, ate in the cafeteria together. Sagitari was just playing with her soup, as well, rather than gulping it down, which made her friends certain she was troubled.

"Are you okay?" Ai asked, taking notice.

Sagitari jolted up and put a smile on. "O-of course! What about you?"

Ai tilted her head. "I'm… fine. You just looked like you were spacing out."

Kan nodded in agreement. "Yeah! It's like you aren't yourself right now."

She waved her hand. "No, I'm just thinking about when we get to spar next, you know?"

Kan and Ai looked at one another. It was obvious the excuse wasn't getting through to them. Kan reached her hand across the table and touched Sagitari's arm in comfort. "You know if there's anything you're having trouble with, you can talk to-"

"Like I said, I'm okay!" Sagitari replied harshly and pulled her arm away, taking the two aback. Her yell made the vicinity quiet down, and once she noticed the faces in the room staring at her, she blushed and lowered her head.

Orphiucha scoffed. "Humans."

"What's that supposed to mean, Orph?" Kan asked with an annoyed look.

"I said don't call me that! Besides, you humans never speak your mind. You always keep stuff in your head."

"And faunus are different?"

The snake faunus nodded. "Of course! We're far closer to one another and can speak our minds."

Sagitari slammed her hands on the table, prompting the three to quiet down again and look at her. Too restless about her future situation to deal with the present, she stood up out of her chair.

"Sagitari, where are you going?" Kan asked, "Don't you want to finish your food?"

"I'm not hungry," Sagitari groaned, "I need a jog."

"Is it because of what Orph said?" she asked again. "Come on, Orph, apologize!"

Orphiucha looked grossly chagrined at the thought.

"Orph, ple-"

"I'm going. Alone," Sagitari interrupted again.

* * *

How many laps had she gone around the school? She lost count, but the fact that the sun was down seemed to indicate that she had been running for more than two hours. Still, she couldn't take her mind off the hunter's academies. She wanted, more than anything, to be a huntress. It was her dream. What would happen if she couldn't become one? What would happen if she wasn't accepted by any of the academies?

Nothing. She had nothing else special about her outside of fighting. If the academies denied her, she would be useless. To live a life without use? That was no life to her at all.

It didn't matter if the professors told her she was one of the best students. It didn't matter if she had sparring streaks. It didn't matter if she won an award last year. There were several students around the world just as good, if not better than her with families known for hunting grimm. There were students with wealth like Kan who could easily pay their way into the academies.

But Sagitari? She had nothing to her name. She was the daughter of two long-dead farmers killed by grimm. She was an orphan. Even with skill, could she truly make it into the academies?

Finally, she sat down when she realized her thoughts weren't settling. All the exercise and exhaustion her muscles felt were transferred into her semblance, which she could feel was already low from sparring with Kan. Now, it was at a healthy amount for another spar. That didn't mean she felt any better, but at least she had some safety for future fights.

While focusing on her breathing, she looked up to the bright night sky. It amazed her how many stars you could see at the academy compared to the city. There were so many invisible stars in space that it shocked her when she left the orphange for the first time. She didn't even know you could see the galaxy Remnant was in. She wished she could just look at the stars forever instead of face the future.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" a voice muttered from behind the bench Sagitari sat on. By instinct, she leaped off the seat and spun around, aiming her fists towards the enemy. However, she instead found a long, black-haired student with piercing yellow eyes raise his hands in the air, surprise on his nervous face.

Sagitari relaxed her pose and sighed. "You scared me!"

This made the student give a small chuckle. "Sorry about that. I just noticed you out here…"

* * *

**Present day**

Sagitari shivered. "Him. He didn't just 'notice' me. He was watching me, probably for hours."

Liu tiled his head. "Who's 'he'?"

The girl looked at Liu with a grim look.

* * *

**One and a half years ago**

"Who are you?" Sagitari asked, confused to find another student out here at such a time.

The boy bowed slightly and waved. "Kravma. Nice to make your acquaintance. And you?"

"Sagitari."

"Well, Sagitari, why are you out here?"

Sagitari scratched her arm and look down. "I got into an argument with some friends. Now I'm just trying to think."

Kravma nodded in understanding. "I see. However, I'm sure there's more than that, isn't there?"

"Yeah…" Sagitari still looked apprehensive about the hunter's academies, it seemed.

Kravma moved to the other side of the bench and sat down. He signed for Sagitari to do the same, and for some reason, she consented and moved back to the bench.

"What year are you?" he asked.

"I'm in my final year."

Kravma smiled. "Oh, me too! Then I'm assuming you're worried about the academies?"

Sagitari's eyes widened. "You're very observant, you know that?"

He laughed. "Well, it's obvious. It's the pattern every final-year student goes through here. Do we continue on, or go to a university instead? And if we decide to become a hunter or huntress, what academy do we go to? How do we even get accepted?"

"Exactly!" Sagitari gave a friendly tap on his shoulder.

"Of course," Kravma continued, "The academies are very difficult to join. You need to have extraordinary talent and skill, and even that isn't enough."

"It's like you're reading my mind. I've been thinking about that for so long," she admitted.

Kravma laughed. "It's just easy to see, and hearing about the low admittance rate at these academies can be a little disheartening."

"Then do you know how to get admitted?" Sagitari asked almost desperately.

"Well… there is one thing."

"What is it?!"

Kravma's face became stern. "Action. These academies want action. They want to hear about the achievements you've made or the grimm you've fought. There's no doubt that someone who's taken down a powerful grimm will be the one choosing between the academies, you know?"

"A powerful grimm…" Sagitari muttered to herself. "Do you know where I could fight one?"

Kravma rubbed his chin. "Hmm… well the area around Signal is pretty safe from what I know. The teachers always destroy any lairs near the school when the weekend starts, but that means that any lairs that have been built during the week are active until Saturday."

Sagitari grabbed Kravma by the shoulders. "Are there any right now?!"

Kravma raised his eyebrows. "Y-yeah, a mile or so to the east. You aren't thinking about doing it right now though, are you?"

"Today is Friday! That means that when tomorrow hits, my chance of killing the grimm will be lost. Thanks, Kravma! I'm going to go hunt some grimm."

Sagitari lifted herself off the bench and smiled. She felt clarity in what she had to do. She knew she was a great fighter, now she could prove it to the academies. Finally, the anxiety could be removed from her.

Kravma waved. "Try your best! I look forward to seeing you in the school news!"

Sagitari dashed towards the dormitories with a goal in mind. Once she had her weapons, she could go and finish off the dangerous grimm. She could see now the school praise her for her courage. She could see all the academies wanting her to join. She could fulfill her dream, finally.

The future, however, would not be set as she'd like, nor would it be as clean as she'd want.

* * *

Sagitari snuck into the girls' dorms. Two long rows of beds were aligned with one another down a long room. Each bed had its own night table where the weapons of the students were located. If they had a large weapon, they had a wardrobe. Thankfully, Sagitari had two small ones, making it easy for her to recognize.

She made her way silently a few beds down the room to the one with the one-drawered night table. To the left and right were Ai and Kan respectively, both with large wardrobes for their own weapons. After making sure that the two were soundly sleeping, Sagitari tip-toed to her table, typed in the combination, and pulled open the drawer. The sound of the pull, however, made a small creak.

Suddenly, Sagitari heard a small inhale from Kan. She had no time to even try to act like she was sleeping when the girl opened her eyes. "Tari?" she asked.

Sagitari sighed and pulled her brass knuckles out of the drawer, then quietly shut it. "Sorry, Kan, but I got a mission."

"What are you talking about?" Kan mumbled with a yawn.

"I'm… going to make myself known. Then the academies will recognize me."

Kan looked confused. "What are you planning?"

"Look, just go back to sleep."

Kan sat upright. "Okay, now I'm definitely worried about you, Tari. I'm coming along."

"You can't," Sagitari whispered, "It's too dangerous. I'm going to fight a strong grimm."

Kan immediately jumped up, though she was still silently. "What? Then I'm going with you for sure."

"Sit do-"

"If you go without me, then I swear I will scream and wake everyone up," Kan announced to her with a look of determination.

Sagitari looked around the room and made sure all the girls were still asleep. If they were awoken, she'd have no way of proving herself. The girl frowned and looked back at Kan, who was already taking her martial arts jacket out of her wardrobe.

"Fine," Sagitari hesitantly permitted.

"Don't worry about me," Kan confirmed while buttoning up her jacket. "I can handle myself."

"We've never even fought grimm before, though."

"Then it's a good thing I'm coming with you."

* * *

The two girls trudged through the rocky area that was situated to the east of the school. It was a vast stretch of hills made of rock that reached beyond where students were supposed to go. The amount of jumping from hill top to hill top made even the two, known for their rigorous exercise and close-ranged combat, break into a sweat.

"You know," Kan huffed out, "I wonder why they haven't included this area with the school. It seems like it would be a great place to practice spar."

"Maybe it's the because of the grimm," Sagitari responded between breaths.

"Hey Sagitari," Kan spoke, "When we kill this grimm, which academy do you want to go to?"

"What?"

"You told me that killing this grimm will make the academies recognize you, right? So where do you want to go?"

Sagitari thought as she jumped over to the next rock pile. "I haven't thought about which one. Just about how to get into one. Where do you want to go to, Kan?"

"Atlas without a doubt."

"Atlas?" Sagitari chuckled. "Never thought you'd want to leave your parents."

Kan hissed. "Hey! For your information, Atlas academy has the highest budget of every academy in the world! That means they have the most for their students to become great hunters. Many even get jobs right outside of graduation!"

Sagitari pondered. "Atlas, huh? If that's the closest way to achieving my dream, then I'll go too!"

Kan's face beamed with happiness. "Really?!

She nodded back with a smile. "Of course. Let's graduate together, both here and in Atlas, okay?"

Kan nodded. "Ri-"

Suddenly, four grimm in the shape of wolves jumped out from the lower areas between rocks and surprised the two girls. Beowolves, Sagitari immediately identified. The most common in Vale.

"Kan!" Sagitari yelled before jumping to her friend's location. She could already see fear tense Kan up and stop her moving. Before the grimm could get a hand on the girls, Sagitari already landed nearby the other girl and pulled her down, just barely dodging a claw swipe. She then kicked another one of the wolf beasts in their gut, launching them a few rock hills away.

Kan was finally settled down and got to work as well. She jumped out from a huddled shape to form an uppercut, slamming the bottom of her palm into another beowolf's chin. She then grabbed it paw and threw it over Sagitari's head.

The two girls, finally prepared, stood back to back. Three more grimm had shown up.

"So, this is how grimm fight?" Sagitari asked.

"Scary, if you ask me."

Sagitari chuckled. "Are you still scared? Need me to hold your hand?"

"H-hey! Just focus on the fight, okay?"

Without responding beyond a small laugh, Sagitari launched herself into the air and clashed with a beowolf. She latched herself onto the beast, spun it around, then crashed her fists into its back. The grimm landed into a rather sharp section of rock which impaled the beast. For the first time, Sagitari saw how the monsters known as grimm died as it disintegrated.

"That's one," she spoke.

"One over here, too!" Kan responded from behind.

The second grimm tried to claw at its attacker, but Sagitari was too quick. She tapped into her semblance, giving her an added boost in muscle, and demolished the grimm's face with a counter-punch. The beowolf disintegrated before even hitting the ground.

The third did a surprise attack, nearly chomping Sagitari's head off. However, she spun around just in time and caught its large fangs. With a little more of her semblance, she then pulled the teeth out from its mouth and stabbed them into the grimm's head. The beowolf fell limp, then turned into dust.

"I have three down!"

"Me, too!"

Sagitari turned around and jumped over to where Kan was standing, directly above another decaying wolf grimm. "Easier than I thought!" Kan said with a satisfied smile. "I'd say Signal's taught us well!"

"Don't relax just yet," Sagitari warned while observing the dark surroundings. "There should be seven in that pack."

"Maybe it ran away?"

Sagitari shook her head. "Grimm don't run. Even if it did, that means it has a plan."

"Like what?"

"Like-"

On cue, a loud, vicious roar erupted from the nearby area. The two looked towards the source to find the silhouette of a giant beowolf standing on top of some rock, with a smaller beowolf standing beside it. Their red eyes, furious with rage, were aimed directly at Sagitari and Kan.

"Like that."

Kan shook her head. "I… I don't think we should fight that."

"No," Sagitari said with a grin, "That's exactly what we need to fight. That's the strong grimm."

Before Kan could stop her friend, Sagitari dashed towards the two silhouettes. The smaller one ran first, but with a simple grab and spin, Sagitari threw the grimm back towards its larger counterpart. The big grimm, rather than help its kind, proceeded to bite into the smaller wolf grimm, dissolving it into dust. Using that as a distraction, Sagitari increased her semblance to its max and jumped with immense speed towards the beast. With her strong hand, she smashed her fist into the monster's face with almost all of her semblance injected into it. She felt a strong smack against the skin of the beast that made her grin and get goosebumps.

However, that grin turned to surprise when she saw the grimm's livid, unharmed face. The punch did nothing.

"Tari! Let's run!" Kan yelled. The instant Sagitari landed, she jumped backwards. Despite having only a small bit of her semblance left, her aura was fine enough for her to run. But, while in the air, the grimm grabbed a hold of her leg and threw her back down. Sagitari yelled in pain at the strong grip it had on her. It forced her to realize how stupid she had been, trying to handle something this powerful at her level. How could she have done this? She looked up at the grimm to see its eyes thirsting for vengeance. She would die without even becoming a huntress for sure.

That was until an explosive burst in the beowolf's face, weakening its grip on her. Sagitari managed to kick free from the beast, then jump away to where Kan was located.

"Shoot the thing, Tari!" Kan yelled while firing giant laser bolts from the sleeves of her jacket.

"Right!" Sagitari always seemed to forget she could turn her brass knuckles into pistols. With a click, the two metal fronts extended and a trigger came down from inside. Once ready, she shot at the grimm as much as she could.

"Let's run while it's distracted!" Kan suggested.

"R-right."

With one more blast, Kan turned around and started running, as did Sagitari. The two sprinted as fast as they could without looking away, though the delayed thumping seemed to indicate the furious giant monster was right behind. They forgot about jumping between each rock hill, and instead chose to throw themselves as fast as they could towards the light of the school in the distance. They ran with every fiber in their being. Their panting and tears pushed them even further, trying to escape from the beast that they had poked and prodded. Every muscle in their legs, their arms, they body – it was all pushed for the sake of survival.

And still, it was not enough. The grimm leaped with fearsome strength and landed in front of the two. The girls stopped dead in their tracks once the massive slam of the beowolf's body shook the ground around them. Its eyes pierced deep into their souls and made the two lose any hope they had of escape.

"Sagitari," Kan whispered with her weak voice.

"What?"

"I'm scared."

"Me, too."

The two fell to their knees, knowing that escape would not be possible. The school was right there, they could see, but the grimm was so vastly superior that even being ten feet from the entrance would not be enough avoid the beowolf. The giant wolf grinned at its weak-willed prey, then lurched forward with heavy stomps. Each step of its feet created cracks in the ground which reached over to the two girls and beyond, showing the insane strength of the beast. With each step, the existing cracks grew.

_Cracks_, Sagitari thought. It was a long shot, but she tried as well. With her fist raised, she hit the ground as hard as she could. The cracks became even more crazed. Again, she punched, and again the cracks expanded.

"What are you doing, Tari?" Kan asked confusingly.

Sagitari didn't answer. She didn't have the strength to do so. She kept punching the ground, using two hands this time. Even the grimm was confused at what she was doing, so much so that it stopped in its tracks and just watched. But Sagitari couldn't give up. Even with her hands bleeding, she kept punching and punching.

Finally, with a loud battle cry, she put her two hands together and threw them into the ground from over her head. The cracks that originated from her position all connected with the existing cracks and extended under the grimm's feet.

Then, silence.

"I-it was a good try, whatever it was," Kan's broken voice mumbled out.

The grimm smiled and showed its massive line of teeth. Then, it restarted its walk forward with one large stomp.

Finally, the cracks gave way and the ground shattered like glass. The humongous beowolf's eyes showed shock at the turned tables, and it no longer focused on its prey. The monster raised its sharp claws in the air as it plummeted down into the abyss that its feet and Sagitari's punches created. The beast let out a roar, but once its body became completely engulfed by the darkness, only echoes could carry along its scream. The two girls looked at the bottomless pit for half a minute still paranoid that the grimm could escape, but when there was no more sound coming from below, they sighed a breath of relief together and stood up.

"I guess that's why the school doesn't let us around here," Sagitari joked.

"Tari!" Kan tearfully cheered as she grabbed her in a hug. "You did it!"

"We beat it…" she muttered.

Unexpectedly, Kan let go and slapped her friend on the face. "Don't you EVER do something like this again, you hear me!? Not even in Atlas."

Sagitari rubbed her face at the sting, but smiled when she saw Kan smile again.

"Alright," Sagitari agreed. "Now let's go-"

The hole was not finished growing, though. Sagitari and Kan both felt weightless as the area they stood on also broke off the main ground. The realization didn't even hit them until a good moment afterward: They were falling. They were going to die, falling into the hole that Sagitari had created.

Sagitari, with enough speed to realize this, grabbed both the stable ground on the edge of the hole and Kan's wrist. Her strength had been weakened from their running and her trying to attack the beowolf before, but she had enough to keep them up.

But that was the thing. It was just enough to keep them up. Not enough to lift them out.

Sagitari could feel it in her deep recesses, a small bit of her semblance left. She could fire it up and save Kan, but the instant she did that, she would fall into the hole. Alternatively, she could let go on Kan-

"No!" she yelled out loud. Let go of a friend. How could she do that? And yet, the thought still lingered with her. If she were to die, she could never go on to become a huntress or help those who helped her. She would die, and that thought frightened her. It didn't matter what would be on the other side, she did not want to leave this world so young.

But let a friend die in her place? The thoughts consumed her so much so that the two hung there for more than ten seconds in silence, stuck in a deathly stalemate. The slippery blood on her hands made it even more critical. That would not change the fact that it was obvious someone would die regardless of any choice she made.

"Kan. I… don't know… what to do…." Sagitari found herself asking the friend she could easily drop.

"Tari… it's okay," Kan whispered without fear.

"Kan?"

"I know I can't become anything more than a typically huntress, but you? You have so much ahead of you. You'll become an amazing huntress! Maybe even the best. So, it's okay to let go."

Sagitari felt tears drop from her cheeks. "I can't…"

Kan smiled. "If it helps you, then I'm happy. Please don't think of it any other way."

In that instant, Sagitari made the decision. With her friend's permission, she slightly loosened the grip she had on Kan's wrist. Then, the girl lifelessly fell. A smile was still on her face when she fell into the darkness below, and it was enough for Sagitari to cry out loud in sadness and anger. With the last of her semblance, she pulled herself up and laid down on the ground, tears still flowing from her eyes. Why did she do something like this? How could she do something like this?

A familiar voice appeared, though, and it made the girl wipe her eyes to look up. "What are you two doing? Jump down there!"

Sagitari sat up from the ground to find Taiyang directing two other teachers. The two teachers stuck sharp devices in the ground, then wrapped rope around them. Once that was secure, they jumped into the hole and voluntarily entered the darkness.

"I can't believe you went and did something this stupid!" Taiyang yelled, his face red with anger.

"I'm…sorry…I'm sorry…. I'm…." Sagitari kept apologizing through sobs. All the anxiety and fear, all the anger and rage, all the negative emotions she had felt before flowed out at once and made her cry even louder than before. Seeing her this distraught made Taiyang calm himself down, though he still clenched his fists. Silently, he sat down beside her and sighed.

"Sorry kid, but after this, you'll be the luckiest girl in the world if an academy accepts you."

* * *

Sagitari's sat in her hospital bed and stared at the piece of paper titled _Expelled _on her lap. Physically, she was okay. Her healing was completed and she was set to leave tomorrow morning, but mentally she was the worst she had ever been. She was no longer able to become a huntress. Her one dream, shattered like a mirror. Now nothing existed for her in the future. On top of that, she had nearly killed her friend. Apparently, Kan was lucky enough to have her jacket catch onto the sharp, rocky side of the hole, but she had taken a large amount of scratches and bruises from hitting that wall in the first place. With that guilt on her conscience, she knew she could never see Kan again.

Without warning, Ai and Orphiucha walked into the room with looks on concern on their faces, though the faunus tried to hide it.

"Are you okay, Sagitari?" Ai asked.

"Do I look okay?" Sagitari asked back.

She continued. "I can't believe I did that. I almost killed Kan. I tried to kill Kan, all so I could save myself. I don't deserve to become a huntress, and the school knows this now."

"Sagitari, you should know it isn't your fault."

"Isn't my fault? It was my decision to go out there and find a grimm to fight! I started this in the first place!"

Ai and Orphiucha kept quiet. They knew they couldn't argue with her over what she had done, even if she was a friend. She had put Kan in danger, that much was obvious.

"Stay with Kan. I don't deserve to be cared for," Sagitari finished.

"Sagi-"

Sagitari smashed her fist into the desk next to her bed. "Go!"

The two girls looked at one another, then hesitantly nodded at Sagitari.

"Bye, Tari," Ai spoke.

Thus, the two girls left the room for Sagitari to wallow in her despair. She had nothing. She had no one. She felt passion drain from her soul as no idea came to mind how she could keep continuing. Sagitari looked at the table she punched, which had a deep indention from the force she put into the strike. She was a fighter, through and through. How could she become anything other than a huntress?

Well, she had no choice now.

"Bravo!" a new voice spoke from the room, making Sagitari jump in fear. She looked around, yet saw nothing. There was no one there.

"Oh, you're surprised? Let me show you who I am!" Suddenly, a figure grew out of the bed's shadow and became three-dimensional. Sagitari got into a defensive position as it took the shape of a human. Then, the figure's identity became obvious: Black, long hair. Yellow eyes. It was Kravma.

"Kravma?"

The boy smiled devilishly and walked towards the door. "I have nothing more to see. The show is over."

"What are you saying?"

Kravma laughed. "Isn't it obvious? You were my show! When you let go of Kan… I must say, that made me shiver with tears. Never before have I seen a predictable pattern broken so easily! What should have been you saving Kan turned into you saving yourself! Oh, so beautiful! But alas, like all good shows, it must come to an end. So, goodbye!"

Sagitari was filled with rage and she jumped off the bed with the intention of attacking Kravma. Yet, her feet stopped when she touched the ground. She tried to lift them up, but it felt like her feet were chained up. She looked down to find the shadow of the bed coming off the ground and entangling her feet.

Kravma tisked at Sagitari. "Now, now. All good shows should never outstay their welcome. Sit back down, please."

"Kravma!" Sagitari yelled at the boy leaving the room. Finally, with some of her semblance, she broke free from the shadow chains and ran towards the door. Her fists felt like they were bleeding from how strong she held them, but she knew she was going to use it on something. Swiftly, she shoved open the door into the hallway intent on catching Kravma, the one who started this all. When she left the room, though, she was surprised to find that the hallway was completely empty. Kravma was gone.

Unable to hide her rage, Sagitari threw a punch into the wall and created a massive hole, then walked back into her hospital room with a renewed depression.

* * *

The sun had set when Sagitari's next visitor had come. With nothing left for her, the girl just laid on the bed staring aimlessly at the wall. For a few hours, she slept, but she pushed away any sort of food that was offered to her. She felt that someone like her deserved nothing, especially food. She would only eat when she reached the point of desperation, however far that was.

Then, the door opened, prompting Sagitari to lifeless look at who was entering. In a big surprise, it was the headmaster of one of the hunter's academies: Ozpin.

"Hello, Sagitari," Ozpin spoke warmly. In his hand, he held a plastic coffee cup from the hospital lounge. He pulled the visitor's chair from the wall and brought it forward, then sat down.

Sagitari kept staring. She wasn't sure if what she was looking at was real. To check, she reached her hand forward and pinched the older man's cheek.

Unfazed, Ozpin continued. "I assure you that I am indeed real, Ms. Kaus."

"You're Ozpin," she spoke, still in shock at her visitor.

"Yes, I am. The headmaster of Beacon Academy at your service."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"Well, when the teachers at Signal asked for my opinion on the matters of expulsion for a certain student, it was casually tossed aside once the majority of teachers decided that to expel was the better option than to not expel."

Sagitari looked down. "So you know about what happened?"

Ozpin sipped on the coffee he held. "I don't think any headmaster doesn't know what you did."

"Are you here to reprimand me?" she asked dejectedly.

"On the contrary, I'm here to offer you a place at Beacon Academy."

Sagitari tilted her head and rubbed her ears to make sure she was hearing right. "Come again?"

"Beacon Academy. The academy is am a headmaster at. I want you to become a student there."

Sagitari, without dropping a beat, shook her head. "Sorry, sir, but what I've done… I don't think I have the right to become a huntress. A huntress should put the lives of others over their own, and I did the opposite."

Ozpin spun the coffee cup around in his hand. "Tell me, Ms. Kaus, how much do you want to become a huntress?"

"More than anything. It's been my life's dream. But you don't understand what I did, and why I can't keep going on as a huntress."

Ozpin looked her in the eyes with genuine pain in his heart. "You will never know how much I understand that pain. That feeling that you can't go on. But you have to fight it. Ms. Kaus, I see something in you that is truly good. Something that mistakes or wrong choices can never take away. Why can't I give you a second chance then?"

"A… second chance," Sagitari muttered.

"Indeed. I firmly believe that as long as you have the regret and the will, second chances should always be given. So, Ms. Kaus, will you accept this second chance and polish the good you have in store, or will you wallow in despair always thinking about the what-if's? The choice is yours."

"Won't Signal Academy get angry with you?"

Ozpin threw the empty coffee cup in the trash and smiled. "That's what I want. After all, if you don't want a headmaster's opinion, don't ask him."

Sagitari found herself smiling for the first time since the incident. She even gave a small chuckle.

The headmaster, satisfied in his talk, stood up from his chair and walked towards the door. "When you've made your decision, come talk to me. I'll be in town for a couple more days. And Ms. Kaus?"

"Yes?"

"Keep hanging on."

With that, the headmaster of the academy left the room. However, Sagitari did not have time to meditate upon it, as another familiar face walked into the room: Orphiucha.

The faunus looked confused. "That was the headmaster of Beacon."

"What are you doing here?" Sagitari asked. "I told you to stay with Kan."

"What about you?"

"I deserve to be alone."

Orphiucha, despite the proclamation, sat down in the visitor's chair. "And that's why you need someone. How else are you going to stop hating yourself?"

"I deserve…. I deserve…." Sagitari was at a loss for words. With Ozpin's speech and Orphiucha's insistence, she didn't know what she wanted. She wasn't sure about anything.

"Sagitari," Orphiucha interrupted her thoughts, "Do you want to be adopted?"

The girl jolted in her bed. "What?!"

"Adopted. If we're family, then we're stuck together, no matter what you think you deserve."

"But I..."

Orphiucha looked down. "I know what it's like to feel alone. I know how it feels to be isolated, so I want to be with you, Sagitari. I want you to be a part of my family. After all, you know my mom, and she's already- Whoa, are you okay?!"

Sagitari, overcome with emotion, didn't notice that tears were falling down her cheek. Genuine tears. Tears that didn't come from sadness or anger. Tears that came from adoration. Tears that came from the fact that she had a friend as good as Orphiucha who still liked her despite her mistake. Embarrassed, Sagitari wiped her face and sniffed. "I-It's nothing!"

"So, what do you say?"

For the first time in a while, Sagitari cheered and gave a thumbs up. "Whatever you say, sister!"

Orphiucha, for the first time since Sagitari knew her, gave a smile as well. "Okay… sister."

* * *

**Present Day**

"It was Ozpin and Orphiucha who saved me," Sagitari explained. "If it wasn't for them, then I don't know what would have happened… but it doesn't change the fact that I almost killed a friend. I led her into a suicide mission."

"So that's why you got angry at Orph when she didn't use her semblance to save me," Liu remembered.

Sagitari nodded. "Yeah. I was angry at her because that was what I once was. I put my life ahead of another."

"And why you got angry at Freddie," Ursus also recalled.

Again, Sagitari nodded. "He thought completely wrong of you, like how I didn't understand Kravma's character."

Finally, the sun had set, and Sagitari looked up the stars. "So, now you all know the truth. You know about how awful I was in the past. Your team leader, nearly a murderer."

Liu thought about all the teammates. All of them had some baggage in their past. Liu was a weakling who only got into the academy based on family ties alone. Ursus had lived his past as a fearsome giant, accidentally instilling terror in others while in reality, he wanted nothing more than to be friends. Orphiucha had lived her life in hatred of humanity, and most importantly, her father, becoming a huntress for the sake of hunting him down and finding out the truth. This just meant that Sagitari was a part of the group.

"Who cares?" Liu announced.

Sagitari turned around in surprise. "What?"

"Who cares?" Ursus said this time.

"You too, Ursus?!"

Ursus nodded. "You, Liu, and Orphiucha are the first true friends I've ever had, and I can see now that it wasn't luck. You're a genuinely warm person, Sagitari, no matter what mistake you made in the past."

"Sagitari," Liu said, "Because of you, I've grown as a hunter. I don't run from fights or hold my punches in fear of hurting others anymore. I don't think a heartless person could do that. And whether you want it or not, your past just makes you more a part of Team SOUL."

Sagitari looked at Orphiucha in confusion.

The half-faunus laughed. "What did I tell you? They'll accept you for who you are."

"Then… you two won't leave the team?"

Liu and Ursus both shook their heads. "Not at all," Liu smiled.

Sagitari looked down in surprise. Then, in a great noise, she burst into tears and jumped towards Liu and Ursus. Before the two could even escape, she already activated her semblance and gave the two a large bear hug. "You two are the best team members a leader could ask for!" she choked out through comical sobs.

"Sagi…. Help… Can't… Breath," Liu tried to speak despite his lack of oxygen.

Ursus's face went white, as well.

And still, Orphiucha laughed on the other side of the roof. Liu could tell that at this moment, the team was the closest they had ever been. No more secrets were hidden and the four were like family. Despite his physical distress, he felt happy. He felt that he belonged. Sure, none of them were perfect, but that's what he loved about the group. They were a team.

They were his team.

* * *

From the distance, a long, black-haired individual watched the four. He watched Sagitari grab Liu and Ursus in a hug, indicating that, yet again, the pattern had been broken. He never expected the black-haired individual to accept Sagitari's past, though he expected that reaction from the tall red-headed one.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself. From the shadows, he pulled out a small booklet consisting of names. Names of his shows. He passed by the name "Sagitari Kaus," which had been long crossed out. He passed by the name "Kan Foo," which had not yet been inked out. Finally, he stopped at an empty line and wrote the new name "Liu Xiu." Glee filled his heart. Two shows at once? He was being spoiled.

"Liu Xiu," he spoke, "You will be an interesting one to watch during the tournament. I'll make sure of it."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hello! Thanks for reading this chapter of RWBY: Revenant! So an interesting thing: I've finished an actual, original short story! I still need to proofread it and edit, but I plan on submitting it to a journal when it's fully finished. If any of my short stories actually get published, then I'll be sure to let you all know! In the meantime, be sure to keep up with RWBY: Revenant! Have a good day/night and God bless!)


	43. Chapter 43: After

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 43: After – Reflection

_Liu relies on the idea that he's Soul. He believes that that identity is human, containing the "soul" of his past team. It's the only thing that's keeping him from facing reality.  
_

_ If only his old team could see him now, they'd be repulsed at what their friend has become._

* * *

Soul held his blade against the back of the bandit leader as the pair walked into the forest. At his behest, Soul allowed the other bandits to rest outside of the village from their wounds, as well as bury the two that were accidentally killed.

"You won't get away with this. Our leader will make sure of it," the bandit moaned while limping forward. As a repercussion for his interjection, Soul kicked the guy in the back, which made him fall over.

"I'm not going to meet your leader. I'm going to meet the White Fang members that are in your camp," Soul stated, his sword aimed at the groaning bandit.

After pulling him up, the two started walking again. Soul was anxious, almost desperate, to make it to the bandit camp as soon as possible. If what the bandit said was true alongside the intel he heard back in Menagerie, then he was close to finding Adam. He was close to finding the one who killed Orph. Yet, when he thought of killing, guilt arose in Soul's stomach. It reminded him of the events that transpired only an hour ago. Bandits, while often collecting money from local villages, weren't always known for destroying and pillaging. Some even provided help to the needy and protected those who were in their proclaimed territory. Knowing that, Soul had to wonder what kind of bandits these people were, considering the fact that he killed two of them.

He killed two of them. He killed. That thought never left his mind. Why now? Why not all the other times he killed in the past? What made those two bandits so special? Perhaps it was the look in the younger kid's eyes. That look of inhuman fury. That rage that transcended reason and pushed you to the brink. The point where one was no longer-

Soul grunted at the thought. "I'm Soul," he whispered.

"What?" the man asked.

"Keep moving."

The bandit kept walking, but chuckled. "Still, I guess it'll be fun watching Raven beat the hell out of you."

"Raven?" Soul asked. He recalled this man mentioning her in the village.

"Raven Branwen? Don't tell me you've never heard of her! She's the strongest leader in all of Remnant! She's so strong in fact that she's trained a Maiden! She's even seen as an equal to another Maiden!"

"And what are these Maidens?"

"What?" the man taunted, "I thought you only cared about the White Fang."

Soul pushed the man again, making him almost lose his balance. "Call me curious."

The dude gave a dirty look, but spoke. "Maidens are powerful, man. Imagine a huntress with more than one semblance!"

"I think I can imagine that," Soul joked. After all, he did contain his own semblance and the Voice's, even while she shunned him.

The man raised his eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Can you imagine the power to control the weather? Can you imagine having all the elements in your hands? Can you frickin' fly?! I've seen it, man. They're no joke."

Soul stopped for a second. Controlling the elements? Controlling weather? Flying? That sounded like…

"What are their names?" Soul asked with a renewed focus.

The bandit looked back with confusion. "Our one is Vernal, but another one showed up named Cinder."

Soul grabbed the man's shoulder and pulled him against a tree, then aimed his sword at them. "Tell me what they look like."

The man looked fearful yet again with his hands up. "H-hey, calm down. I'll tell you whether you threaten me or-"

"Tell me!" Soul activated his semblance, and his scarf shot out of his large sleeve. It then grabbed the bandit's leg and left him dangling in the air.

"Whoa! Let me down! Please! I can't handle heights!"

With a grunt of disgust, Soul loosened his scarf and let the man go. He crashed into the ground, though the blonde bandit was still conscious.

"Tell me. Now."

The man scrambled back into a tree. "O-our one has short hair," he quickly spoke, "short, brown hair and bright blue eyes. The other Maiden has longer, black hair and yellow eyes, and…"

"Hair covering her left eye…" Soul continued. He dropped his sword in amazement. So, she was here. One of his targets.

Finally.

Soul found himself gritting his teeth in anticipation. The one who he knew nothing about. The one who just put Sagitari in a coma, then left. She was here. Through dumb luck, he had found her alongside Adam. He couldn't believe it.

The bandit looked around, probably trying to figure out a method of escape, but Soul's scarf latched onto his leg once again to keep him from running.

"Cinder, huh?" Soul muttered with a grin.

The bandit put his arms flat against the tree and gripped out of fear. "Y-yeah, her name is Cinder. But she's a crazy powerful Maiden!"

Soul put his hand into a fist as he felt blood rush to his head. "It doesn't matter how powerful they are. As long as I'm standing, I'll cut them down."

The man let out a loud, nervous laugh. "You may have some power, b-but it's nothing compared to the Maiden. Once we make it to the camp, you'll see."

Soul laughed as well, though it exuded a higher level of confidence. "I don't think I will."

And like that, all the devastation he had left in his path, from the White Fang members and bandits he'd killed, to the kid in Menagerie he'd almost let die, to even fighting his father – it was all worth it. All the guilt he was carrying in his heart, it was all paying off. Was he a monster for what he had done? Was he right in killing the two bandits? Now that he was so close to Cinder and Adam, he chose not to reflect on that.

Besides, it didn't matter. He had nothing left anyway.

Soul, smiling like a madman, led the bandit to walk again, then continued his mantra:

"I'm Soul. I'm Soul. I'm Soul. I'm…"

* * *

Emerald kicked the side of a tree in disgust. "Ugh, I can't believe we have to work with these… people."

"Well, if the almighty Cinder wills it, then we must do it. Isn't that what you're thinking?" Mercury mocked her.

The girl clicked her tongue at him. "Hey, you're following orders too, aren't you?"

Mercury chuckled. "It's just business. Cinder doesn't care for me or you."

Without a moment of hesitation, Emerald pulled her gun-blades out at him. To her, Cinder was like an older sister. It was blasphemy to even think that she didn't have love for Emerald, just as Emerald had love for her. "You wanna take that back?!" she yelled.

However, the man didn't even wince. He merely pushed her blade aside, then continued walking down the forest path. "Wasn't I the one who invited us to go for a walk? You'd think a guest would be nicer…"

Emerald gritted her teeth in anger, but managed to calm herself enough to sheathe her two weapons. "Why did you even invite me?"

"Well, Cinder is busy discussing plans with Raven, I'd rather not deal with Arthur, and the bandits don't seem to like our presence. If I'm walking with someone, might as well walk with you."

Emerald walked slowly behind, hand close to her weapon. Trust between the two was about as malleable as silver. In battle, they could trust each other with their lives as long as it meant they would win. Together, they were even strong enough to hold their own against a Maiden. Yet outside of battle, Emerald was always skeptical of Mercury. She felt that if she wasn't careful, the man would stab her right in the back. Of course, it was unrealistic in a moment like this, just hours before they would assault Haven, but she could never be too sure.

Unexpectedly, Mercury froze and held his hand up, signaling for Emerald to stop as well.

"What's-"

Mercury held his finger up against his mouth, then whispered, "We're being followed."

Emerald immediately put her hands to the weapons on her back and looked around the area. Unlike Emerald, Mercury was trained as an assassin. Thus, it made sense he could pick up on the sounds and sights of hidden movements. She tried to listen too, but she could only recognize the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. Then the idea popped into her head: what if he planned on attacking her now? The girl swiftly brought her weapons back around, though Mercury was still standing and listening. She sighed at her paranoia, but kept an eye on the guy.

Mercury signaled and whispered yet again. "Emerald," he whispered, "shoot at that tree." He pointed at a tall tree not more than fifteen feet away.

She gave a strange look to her partner, but accepted his request and brought her weapon up, aimed, and fired. It darkened the bark of the tree when it hit, but it did nothing to make it fall. It was enough, still, to make the person behind it jump out in shock, which startled Emerald as well. It seemed Mercury was right.

The two quickly got into battle position towards the cowering man.

"Who are you?" Emerald asked.

The blonde man jumped up and raised his hands. "Don't attack me!"

Upon closer inspection it was the same blonde bandit they had beaten up at the front gate of the Branwen Tribe a few days ago, complete with the large hole where his front tooth should be. Seeing the guy made Emerald smile at the pleasant memories, though she knew his presence meant they were being spied on by Raven.

"So Raven sent you, huh? Pretty ballsy if you ask me," Mercury laughed.

The bandit then shook his head slowly with a frightened expression. "I'm so sorry…"

"If you're sorry about spying on us, then maybe you ought to tell your leader that she doesn't have a choice in trusting us," Emerald sternly said.

Again, the bandit shook his head. "Not about that. About-"

Before he could finish, an individual with long, unkempt black hair and striking blue eyes landed between the two. Before they could react, a cloth speedily hurled out of the stranger's giant sleeve and latched onto Mercury's leg.

"Bad move, buddy," Mercury spoke as he released dust ammo from his robotic leg. The effect was an incredible kick that seemed to overcome the strength of the attacker's scarf's grip. That attacker was then sent flying over the cowering bandit into a tree. He must've been a hunter though, because he instantaneously positioned his feet towards the tree, then kicked forward towards Emerald and Mercury once he touched the bark. As a reaction, the two jumped in opposite directions down the forest path, then fired their ammo at the stranger. Just after he landed, though, the stranger took out his two blades – one leaf-shaped, the other single-edged – and managed to block all incoming bullets with them. For about ten seconds, the two kept shooting at him and the man kept blocking, until one finally got through to his hand. Blood dripped from his palm as a result, a sight that satisfied Emerald.

The two put down their weapons upon seeing the damage, though kept their distance. Hunters were always dangerous regardless of wounds.

"Who are you?" Emerald asked.

The stranger looked at the wound in his hand. No way could he keep fighting with a gaping hole like that in his palm, Emerald thought to herself. Still, the stranger was unfazed at his own blood and asked, "Where is Cinder?"

Emerald aimed her guns yet again and gritted her teeth. When it involved Cinder, it involved her as well. "Who are you?!" she asked again.

The bullet fell out of the man's hand and, to Emerald and Mercury's surprise, the palm healed itself in a very short time. If that was a semblance, it was a very useful one. Once he inspected his hand by clenching it a few times, the black-haired stranger turned towards Emerald with wide-eyes and a smile.

"I'm Soul."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant. Insert the usual *don't forget to favorite, follow, or review* here. Man... I can't believe it's been 43 chapters. It's been fun and we still got more, but I didn't realize how much I had written until now. I think all the words combined is more than the first Harry Potter book! Thanks so much for staying for this ride, and I hope you'll stay for longer. Anyways, have a good night/day and God bless!)


	44. Chapter 44: Before

RWBY: Revenant

By Endbeats

Chapter 44: Before – An Unfortunate Reunion

Liu was back home, staring at the Mistral mountains in the distance. A fog was covering the ground, and he found himself sitting on a rock. That, of course, meant that he was dreaming again. If so, then where was…

"Hello!" a cheerful voice said from behind. It practically made Liu jump out of his skin. He fell on his back to find the same woman with long, black hair.

She laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I'd scare you that bad!"

"No, it's… fine," Liu tried to laugh while pulling himself upright again.

The woman tilted her head. "Are you okay? You look a little worried."

Liu scratched his hair. "The tournament is today. It's got me a little worried."

"Are you worried that you won't do well?"

Liu shook his head. "The other team leader is Sagitari's old friend. Someone that she betrayed."

"Oh! I'm sure that'll be stressful for her. But what about you?"

"I'm worried that I can't support her well enough. I don't know how, and I don't know if I'm even strong enough to help."

As a form of comfort, the woman touched the top of his head in a pat. "I know you can do it. You've told me so much since we've talked with one another, and while I haven't seen you fight, I have seen you get stronger as a person. I know you can help Sagitari in all that she does."

Liu smiled at her confidence, but was quickly shaken by a sudden earthquake.

"So that's how she's waking me up this morning," Liu jested.

The woman laughed, then waved. "Farewell, Liu. I hope to see you again."

Liu smiled again, even as the ground cracked beneath him. "I… hope to see you again, too."

* * *

Liu grumbled with closed eyes as he slightly pushed at the person grabbing him. "Alright, Sagitari, I'm getting up. You don't need to keep shaking me."

Unexpectedly, a deeper, masculine voice responded. "It's me," Ursus spoke.

Dazed, he rubbed his eyes to confirm. Once his sight started working again, he indeed found the tall red-head in front of him with Orphiucha standing directly behind. Liu leaned his head to the side at the strange sight. "Where's Sagitari? Isn't she the one who wakes us up?"

"She wasn't here when I woke up," Orphiucha replied.

"She couldn't be running, could she?" Liu questioned. Of course, he still had trust in his leader, but after seeing how hesitant she was yesterday, he came to realize that she wasn't infallible. She was a person just like the others in the team, and that opened every kind of possibility to Liu.

"No, she can't," Ursus disagreed vehemently, "She's out leader. She can't."

Orphiucha shook her head. "Regardless, we need to look for her. The tournament starts today, and if we can't find her before our battle, then we're disqualified."

"Right," Liu agreed, "But first, can I change clothes?"

* * *

Liu and Orphiucha ran side to side throughout the entire courtyard of Beacon, but there was still no sight of her. It had already been thirty minutes, and their battle was in three hours.

"Where could she be?" Liu's paranoia about Sagitari abandoning her team was becoming increasingly true to him. He cursed in his head. He thought she grew out of her fears last night when she told her past. Turns out, her past still haunted her.

"Let's just keep looking," Orphiucha reassured him.

"How can Ursus believe she didn't run away?" Liu liked the dude, but he found Ursus to be far too trusting.

"Don't blame him. After all, we're the first real friends he's had, so it makes sense he'd trust us as much as he does. Besides, I don't think she'll run away either, and you should trust her to return too."

"I trust her! It's just that… well…"

Orphiucha stopped in her track, prompting Liu to do the same. "What?" she asked sternly, "You think she should have told you and Ursus that she almost killed an old friend earlier? You think she should have told you about it on the first day?"

"Of course not, but I think we should have heard something a little earlier!"

The half-faunus sighed. "Liu, we all have baggage. Some are just harder to carry than others. Think about Ursus and me. Both of us didn't choose to have what happened to us. As for Sagitari, she made a choice to let a friend die. A choice that she regrets with every fiber of her being and that she would do anything to revert, but a choice nonetheless. It makes sense she would struggle to tell you two until it was forced on her."

Liu's stance softened at Orphiuch's logic. He never thought of the issue as such until she pointed it out. "You're right," he responded, "Sorry, Orph."

He expected an extended reprimand from Orphiucha or a slap, but she actually smiled at him, which was a rare sight. "It's fine, Liu. Just don't let your faith in our leader waver. I know Sagitari and she wouldn't abandon us, even at a time like this."

"Are you so sure about that?" a new voice spoke from the entrance of the main hall. Liu and Orphiucha looked over to find the same pig-tailed girl with a spiteful smirk that he'd seen yesterday. Behind her stood another student with black, long hair and yellow eyes.

"Kan," Orphiucha muttered as her face dropped. She placed her hands on the batons at her sides.

"It's been a while, 'Orph.' And where is your fearless leader? Nowhere to be seen? How typical…"

Orphiucha kept silent, though she stared at Kan with suspicion. It was as if she half-expected the girl to start fighting now rather than wait for the tournament battle.

However, Kan simply stood at a distance and kept taunting. "Playing the silent treatment, are you?"

Liu walked forward and tried to speak up in defense of Orphiucha, but she held her hand up and gave a stare to shut him up. That movement garnered the interest of Kan, though.

"And who's this? The next sacrifice for Sagitari?"

"My name is Liu," he sternly replied, despite Orphiucha's silent protest. Once he was brought in, he knew he had to defend himself. "And I'm no sacrifice. Sagitari is my team leader."

Kan let out a loud laugh. "Leader? That girl couldn't lead an old lady down the street. She'd probably throw the old coot in front of a bus instead!"

"Hey babe," the student interrupted Kan's sarcasm and said from behind as he tapped her shoulder, "Maybe we should get in touch with Ai and Ty?"

Kan turned her attention away and practically had hearts coming out of her irises as she latched onto the boy's neck. "You got it, babe!"

She then kissed him – a kiss that made Orphiucha's viper eyes shake in shock. A kiss that changed her world. A kiss that made her almost take out her batons if it wasn't for Liu stopping her with a head shake.

After the long kiss, Kan let go and walked down the steps. "Let me bring them over!" she yelled as she sprinted past Liu and Orphiucha – the two she almost completely forgot upon talking with the other person – down the road and into another school building. With her gone, it was just Liu, Orphiucha, and the newcomer.

Once Kan left, though, the newcomer's stance seemed completely different. A playful grin grew on his face and he pulled a small booklet out from his pocket. "Funny girl," he said while writing, "She follows the patterns I expect, but I don't entirely hate those kinds of clichés."

"Kravma!" Orphiucha yelled. She swung her batons out of their sheaths and aimed them at the student.

And yet, he ignored her and continued speaking after closing his booklet and putting it away. "But, she's just a show. Once this tournament is over, I suppose I'll be done with her."

Orphiucha's eyes became red as she created a glyph in the air. Then, she put in baton inside of it and released a burst of red dust. At a velocity far quicker than the projectiles she's shot before, the burst of energy flew towards Kravma with violent intent. It would have decimated him, which would have disqualified Team SOUL from attending the tournament, but Orphiucha's eyes seemed to indicate that she didn't care. This was the man that ruined Sagitari's life after all.

However, the blast of red dust did nothing as the shadows in the vicinity around Kravma became third dimensional and created a black shield around him. The dust, upon touching the strange material, ignited but left no indention, leaving the black egg with no wounds. Then, the shadows seeped back into the ground, leaving Kravma back where he stood.

With a sigh and a pat on his sleeve, he continued. "What a shame. You are just like all the others, Orphiucha. Predictable. You never break free from a pattern."

"Shut up!" she and Kravma yelled in unison, an action that shocked Liu and Orphiucha. Kravma's face indicated he knew exactly how Orphiucha would react, and his identical, mocking outburst proved this. In response, Orphiucha shut her mouth, but gave a vicious stare that seriously contemplated murder.

The freakish boy laughed. "Oh what a face! Such pure emotion! I love it!"

Finally, Liu spoke up. "What are you going on about? Are you the one that made Sagitari do what she did?"

Kravma turned towards Liu and gave a wild smile. "Come on, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'all the world's a stage?' We are all actors, just filling in our parts. But that's so boring, isn't it? No, I want to see more than that. I want to see people break their roles, if only for just a minute."

"And that warrants messing with other lives?!" Orphiucha asked.

"Don't our political leaders do the same? Use our lives for their own games? I'm just doing that as well."

Liu gritted his teeth. Kravma really was as vile as he sounded. A man with no morals or ethics for what he does. A man who truly sees others as a show. Liu stepped forward. "So what, messing with Kan is also a show for you?"

"Indeed," Kravma easily admitted, "Filling her heads with doubts, making her believe Sagitari never cared for her, causing her to feel hatred for her old friend… oh, just remembering her reactions fills me with glee!"

Liu clenched his fists. Only one thing rested in his mind. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done the second the tournament starts."

Orphiucha looked back at her friend in surprise at his bloodlust while this only caused Kravma to laugh. "Yes!" he happily yelled, "Yes! This is exactly what I've been looking for! You, the beginner. The newcomer. The weakling. Anyone would expect you to be a coward, and yet here you are standing up to someone like me with confidence! Come! Face me!"

Without a pause, Orphiucha got in front of Liu to protect him and held her weapons out. "Leave him alone."

Kravma groaned and stomped his foot like a toddler. "Can't you just leave me in peace? Fine then, I guess I'll give you the fight you want."

With a flick of his wrist, all the shadows around Kravma grew to the 3rd dimension and flew towards Orphiucha with protruded, sharp ends. The girl tried to activate her semblance and create several glyphs to stop the shadows, but it would not be enough, especially against this special semblance. It seemed as if the two were going to die, but miraculously, the ground in front of them was raised. From the other side, the two could hear a soft impact against the elevated stone.

"Ursus?" Liu asked as he looked around the courtyard.

"And Sagitari!" a familiar voice yelled. The two looked up to find a silhouette land on the raised ground, then smash her fists into the ground and created debris that forced Liu and Orphiucha to cover their eyes. Upon impact, though, the higher ground dropped and became as smooth as the rest of the courtyard path. Once the action was over, Liu uncovered his eyes and looked forward to see Sagitari standing between him and Kravma.

"I told you she wouldn't run away," Ursus stated as he walked up behind Liu.

"Indeed. It's a shame someone like you is in this team, Xiu-spawn," Athos, who followed behind Ursus, said.

"Athos! You, too?!" Liu asked.

"I was with Sagitari when Ursus found us," he responded, taking his rapier out and walking forward. "So, this is Kravma?"

Kravma tilted his head. "And you are?"

"My name doesn't matter. After all, I'm not the one that's going to beat you. I've witnessed this team's growth, and all of them, including the Xiu-spawn, are far stronger than you think."

Kravma laughed yet again. "Good, good! It'll be even more exciting! I can't wait to-"

"Shut up," Sagitari muttered. Though she didn't put her fists up, she stood her ground. It was obvious that she was doing everything in her power to keep herself from charging at Kravma.

"Excuse me!?" another familiar voice spoke from behind. Liu and the others looked around to find Kan with two others – Ai and a boy with blonde hair, behind her.

"How dare you say that to my boyfriend?" Kan warned Sagitari. She had eyes of red fury that made everyone avoid eye contact.

Immediately, Kravma came out of the shadows nearby Team KKAT. Liu looked at the student's old position in surprise when he found it completely empty. He turned again to see that Kravma was using the same body language he used before Kan left.

"Don't worry, baby. We'll handle them in the tournament."

Kan frowned at her fake boyfriend, but nodded. "Fine, we'll settle this today in the arena."

The pig-tailed girl then looked at Team SOUL plus Athos. "Don't be late, okay? I can't wait to pummel your face in, Sagitari."

Ai waved uncomfortably. "L- let's have a good fight, okay?"

The blonde guy waved too, though more confidently. "Hey, I'm Ty Jee! I can't wait to-"

"Well, we'll see you all later," Kravma interrupted. Ty Jee looked a bit peeved, but did nothing to stop Kravma's interruption. And following his step, the four turned around and walked away down the path.

"So, that's Kravma," Ursus muttered.

Following the events, Sagitari fell to her knees. The move shocked the rest of the group, and they moved towards their leader as she grabbed her chest. "Every time I see Kan," she mumbled, "I see her face as she fell down that hole. As I threw her down that hole. I don't know if I can handle her."

Orphiucha came up first and put her hand on Sagitari's shoulder to reassure her. "Don't worry, I'll fight Kan."

Sagitari, upon hearing that, quickly regained her focus and nodded. "Right. I'll handle Kravma," she said with a vengeance-filled voice.

"Can you do it? He blocked Orph's attack like it was nothing," Ursus asked.

Sagitari nodded. "Kravma... he's a genius in battle. He can predict anything you do, so the only way to win is to be unpredictable. I can do that, I think."

"That leaves…"

Liu's voice was stopped by Sagitari. "Liu, you'll fight Ai. I know her fighting style, and you can handle it. As for Ty, I'll leave that to Ursus. We don't know how strong he could be, but since Ursus is already strong as is, he would have an easier time."

Liu's heart stung a little when he remembered how weak he was compared to the others, but he approved of his leader's choice nonetheless. "Right," he said with a nod.

Athos chuckled a little and got Team SOUL's attention. "I must say, your group has bonded well. I remember back when we had to save Ursus just as Liu wanted to leave. You were all disorganized and didn't fight as a team. Now, you all jump on this challenge of fighting Team KKAT together."

Liu, strangely, felt a sense of respect coming from the student. "Athos-"

His voice was interrupted by Athos, finishing with, "Beat them. I'm dying for a chance to fight you, Xiu-spawn."

"Athos!" Sagitari stopped him yet again, "Thanks for talking to me before!"

Athos gave a small tip of his musketeer hat and walked into the main building of Beacon.

"What talk?" Liu asked as he turned around towards Sagitari.

The girl shook her head. "It's nothing. Now, are you all ready? In three hours, the tournament will start."

Orphiucha nodded. "Let's tie this loose end and win."

"We can do it. I know we can," Ursus agreed.

Liu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt butterflies for sure, but they were nowhere near the same feeling as when he first came to this school. They didn't debilitate him, nor did they stop him from hurting others. They were a healthy sense of nerves for Liu. They let him know he was alive. He was Liu Xiu, a hunter.

The boy opened his eyes with a rejuvenated determination. "I'm ready."

* * *

Team SOUL all marveled at the vast size of the arena. It had to be a mile in diameter, maybe even more. At least that's how it felt. It was a giant, grey octagon with one circle in the center - the area where they stood - across from Team KKAT. All around them sat humongous circles of seats, filled to the brim with vocal onlookers who screamed for the fight to begin. It made Liu feel a little embarrassed.

That being said, Liu felt comfortable. Since there's no clothing regulations, he decided to wear a casual Mistral shirt on top of his jeans. The others chose their own clothes as well, with Sagitari wearing her usual t-shirt and shorts, Orphiucha wearing her jean jacket, and Ursus wearing a massive button-up shirt tucked into his pants. It almost reminded him of the day they all first met. The day they all first arrived in Beacon.

Liu then looked at the other team and found Ai. Attached to every single one of her limbs were blades, ready to extend when she activated them. It would be difficult to figure out when she would use it, but if he could touch them, he could control them with his semblance. Still, he couldn't shake his mind off of Kravma, who kept his gaze on Liu with a grin. As long as Sagitari got him first, Liu would be fine. That's what he had to tell himself, anyways. Meanwhile, Orphiucha would fight Kan, a girl who seemed to eye Sagitari with a death stare, and Ursus would fight Ty, the cocky kid in the back of Team KKAT who kept waving at the cheering audience. Liu went through that plan in his head so much he had lost count.

"How are you feeling?" Orphiucha asked Liu.

"A bit nervous," Liu promptly replied without even looking at Orphiucha. Though, feeling a little nervous was an understatement.

"You'll be fine!" Sagitari relieved him with a pat on the back.

Ursus joined in, too. "You can do it, Liu."

Liu took one more deep breath, then pulled the scarf off his neck. Immediately, he wrapped it around his left forearm until he was tight and snug, then injected his bio-electricity into it. The cloth-like scarf hardened like usual, and once Liu took his blade out, he got into his usual battle stance. His sword was out while his left arm stood upright like it was holding a shield. The rest of the team followed with their own weapons just before the alarm rang, indicating what the arena's biomes would be.

"Let's do this."

* * *

(Author's Note: Hey! Thanks for reading RWBY: Revenant, and I hope you'll be excited for another crazy battle next chapter! Also, I guess here's some real-life stuff because I can't remember if I said it before, but I'm working on some original short stories! More specifically, ones I hope to submit to actual journals! I already finished one, and I plan on getting four more done before my contract with my current job ends. I just hope my next job won't be super busy, so I can still write this! But really, thank you so much for actually reading this! I know it may not be Shakespeare, but it's your support that has given me the strength to practice writing in hopes of actually becoming an author. With some more practice, I hope I'll have the confidence and ability to one day write whole books! Anyways, have a good night/day, and God bless!)


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